WASHINGTON — As voters head to the polls for Tuesday’s elections, they will also elect a new Congress. And whichever party wins control of the House of Representatives and the Senate will decide how to address a host of resulting policy issues.
Whether it means the expiration of tax cuts and health care subsidies, a new round of government funding, or necessary measures like an extension of the debt limit and a new farm bill, Congress will have its hands full.
And the next president – Donald Trump or Kamala Harris – will set the agenda together with the new Congress.
Here are four big things the 119th Congress will have to address.
Trump’s trillions of dollars worth of tax cuts expire after 2025
Large parts of Trump’s 2017 tax law, worth a total of $3.3 trillion, are set to expire at the end of 2025. And the question of what will be extended under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act — and what will be allowed to expire — depends on which party wins this election.
It will be one of the most important tasks of the new Congress, with sweeping tax increases at stake if lawmakers don’t act. If the expiring provisions expire, the standard deduction for tax filers will be halved, the top rate for the highest incomes will increase from 37% to 39.6% and the exemption for paying inheritance tax will be halved. changes.
Former President Trump has said he wants to fully expand the expiring tax breaks to all income levels and pursue deeper tax cuts. Vice President Harris and Democrats say they want to extend the tax cuts for those making $400,000 or less and end them for the wealthiest Americans.
Another issue at stake: the deduction for state and local taxes, or “SALT,” which Trump and Republicans capped at $10,000 in the 2017 law. That limit will be reset to infinity at the end of 2025. Trump has wavered on the issue, while Democratic leaders are determined to lift the SALT cap, which disproportionately affects Americans in high-tax blue states like California and New York.
A slew of Obamacare subsidies are ending, threatening premium spikes
An expansion of funding under the Affordable Care Act, which was passed by Democrats in 2021 and extended the following year, is set to expire at the end of 2025. The funding expands premium tax credits to ensure Americans can purchase a silver “benchmark” plan on the Obamacare exchanges. for a maximum of 8.5% of their income.
Will that money be extended? If the policy expires, many Americans will see spikes in their insurance premiums, which could put pressure on Congress to act. Continuing the funding is estimated to cost about $25 billion per year, according to a 2022 analysis from the Congressional Budget Office.
Depending on the election, the outcome can differ significantly. Harris has called for extending the funding and protecting the 2010 ACA, a major legacy for Democrats that was signed into law by President Barack Obama. Republicans may have a harder sell on approving the funding. Trump has a long history of trying to unravel the ACA and called for the law to be replaced during a September debate.
The debt ceiling must be raised again
The next debt ceiling fight is scheduled for 2025; the country will reach the debt limit on January 1 and start using “extraordinary measures” to pay the bills. These measures will likely take months, and the Treasury Department will later announce an “X date” by which Congress must take action or risk defaulting.
The debt ceiling is one of the strange things about Congress: it routinely passes laws that force the U.S. government to borrow money, but then requires itself to vote separately on whether to borrow the money or allow the country to keep its financial fails to meet obligations, which economists say could lead to a crisis. global economic collapse.
And over the past 15 years, battles over the debt ceiling on Capitol Hill have intensified, with a Republican-controlled House bringing the US to the brink several times amid conservative demands for spending cuts as the price for raising the debt limit.
Will there be another intense battle next year? That depends on who wins this week’s election and whether the outcome empowers conservatives, who are known to be able to use the borrowing limit as a tool to make policy demands.
There will be another fight over government funding
Funding for large parts of the federal government expires on December 20, 2024, leaving Congress to deal with it after the election. But whether lawmakers pursue the issue in early 2025 or reach a full funding deal by the end of this year, the new Congress will return to the drawing board and renegotiate the size of government with the president sometime next year.
Government funding bills and relief measures are subject to the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, making routine government maintenance a bipartisan effort regardless of who controls Congress or the White House. But the priorities could be very different depending on which party wins the election and what the margins in Congress look like. A faction of far-right Republicans in the House of Representatives, who side with Trump, have called for a government shutdown if they don’t get their way with spending. If they make an impact next year, things could get messy.
In addition to government funding, there will also be the Agriculture Bill, a law on agricultural and food policy that should be adopted every five years. The last one expired in 2023 and has been running on autopilot since then. The next Congress will be challenged to reach a long-term deal on issues like farm subsidies and food stamps.
A divided government could make each party equal partners in negotiating the next round of funding and agricultural policy, while a “trifecta” for one party would allow each party to set the agenda.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
