The Scoop
Sen. Tammy Baldwin will push for a vote on her bid to hike taxes on private equity profits — ending a break known as carried interest — during the Senate’s budget debate, the Wisconsin Democrat told Semafor on Thursday.
President Donald Trump is supportive of ending carried interest, and GOP lawmakers have floated scrapping the break as one way of paying for his tax proposals.
Baldwin hopes to use the budget’s all-night “vote-a-rama” to force Republicans on the record about whether they would risk the wrath of the venture capital industry by ending the benefit.
“Republicans will have a perfect chance to show they stand up for working families, not the wealthy, and close this loophole to ensure Wall Street investors are not paying less in taxes than firefighters, teachers, and small business owners,” Baldwin told Semafor.
Baldwin’s amendment could be one of dozens senators weigh Thursday as part of their voting marathon, which is expected to stretch late into the night.
Members may offer as many amendments as they want to any budget resolution — in this case, the Senate’s blueprint that would set up a party-line Republican spending bill on energy, immigration and defense.
It’s not clear, however, whether Baldwin’s amendment will get a symbolic floor vote as leaders in both parties hash out a final slate of proposals to advance.