With those savings not available, either some tax cuts need to be scrapped, revenue needs to be raised elsewhere or the federal deficit needs to be allowed to greatly increase.
If Republicans cannot agree on which of those things to do, they will need to compromise with Democrats to get anything passed and dropping the estate tax repeal is a potential olive branch.
Even though the focus has shifted to tax reform, nothing might actually be done for a long time.
The last major overhaul of the tax system was the Tax Reform Act of 1986. That legislation only passed after a long multiyear process, despite bipartisan support for the reforms.
