Letter from Washington

The Halloween scenario for Ronald Reagan’s tax reform is that it may be easier to get the plan through the Democratic House than through the Republican Senate, owing mainly to the different rules of the two chambers. In the House, the Rules Committee can decide on a closed rule for the tax measure, so that when Ways and Means approves the tax bill by, say, mid-October, as Democratic Chairman Dan Rostenkowski says seems doable, the bill can then move directly to the floor for a straight up or down vote, all conceivably in a single day.

In the Senate, the process is different.After the reform bill has been approved by the Senate Finance Committee (helped along by Republican Chairman Bob Packwood, who says he’s on board), it then is released to the Senate floor where it faces unlimited amendment. Here it can be stuck for a month or longer, having to face multiple amendments on both big items and picky ones, like restoring a tiny piece of charitable-donation deductibility to ease matters for a special constituent, “a matter so small that a Senate colleague would find it tough to vote against,” observes a senior White House official. The setback is not only a matter of delay, but also of erosion. “The bill can be taken apart piece by piece,” the official adds, “so that we end up $5 or $10 billion in the hole.”

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The Halloween scenario for Ronald Reagan’s tax reform is that it may be easier to get the plan through the Democratic House than through the Republican Senate, owing mainly to the different rules of the two chambers. In the House, the Rules Committee can decide on a closed rule for the tax measure, so that when Ways and Means approves the tax bill by, say, mid-October, as Democratic Chairman Dan Rostenkowski says seems doable, the bill can then move directly to the floor for a straight up or down vote, all conceivably in a single day.

In the Senate, the process is different.After the reform bill has been approved by the Senate Finance Committee (helped along by Republican Chairman Bob Packwood, who says he’s on board), it then is released to the Senate floor where it faces unlimited amendment. Here it can be stuck for a month or longer, having to face multiple amendments on both big items and picky ones, like restoring a tiny piece of charitable-donation deductibility to ease matters for a special constituent, “a matter so small that a Senate colleague would find it tough to vote against,” observes a senior White House official. The setback is not only a matter of delay, but also of erosion. “The bill can be taken apart piece by piece,” the official adds, “so that we end up $5 or $10 billion in the hole.”