Senate’s Budget Vote Gives Markets Some Hope: DealBook Briefing
Good Friday morning from Andrew Ross Sorkin in New York and Michael J. de la Merced and Amie Tsang in London. We’re thinking about the implications of Lyft’s $1 billion investment from Alphabet and how that changes its battle with Uber — and all the companies like Apple that have invested in one or the other. More on all those frenemies in a moment.
One Small Step Closer to a Tax Change
Stock market futures are up this morning after the Senate passed a 2018 budget blueprint that could pave the way for Republicans’ tax proposal.
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• Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, warned that failure to pass any tax proposal “will be the end of us as a party.” (NYT)
• Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, still isn’t sold on how the latest proposal will affect the deficit. “The only way for this to work — I met with Secretary Mnuchin last night on this very topic — they’ve got to close $4 trillion in loopholes; they’ve got to make the taxes permanent in nature.” (Bloomberg)
• What happens next: First, the Senate and House each work out a budget proposal. Then each body releases its tax plan. Then they reconcile the two. Then each votes on the resulting proposal. Then President Trump signs it. Count the steps in which something could go wrong.
• A former Treasury Department official in the Obama administration says that the odds of a comprehensive tax overhaul happening this year are “zero percent,” though the chances of tax cuts are “considerably higher.” (Bloomberg)
Elsewhere in Washington
• Senator Mike Crapo, the chairman of the Banking Committee, wants a quick return to “normal, traditional monetary policy.” His committee will vet Mr. Trump’s choice for the next Fed chair. (Bloomberg)
• Mr. Trump has personally interviewed candidates for the United States attorney positions in Manhattan and Brooklyn, which have jurisdiction over his company. (Politico)