Posted on 12/19/2017 9:50:20 PM PST by jazusamo
The Senate approved the Republican tax-cut bill in a 51-48 vote on Wednesday morning, inching closer to finishing off the first major legislative victory of President Trump’s tenure.
The party-line Senate vote came hours after the House on Tuesday approved the sweeping legislation in a 227-203 vote.
But the House will have to vote again on Wednesday to get the bill to the White House because of a ruling by the Senate parliamentarian that two provisions in the House-passed bill didn't comply with budget rules that Republicans are using to prevent Democrats from mounting a filibuster.
The 11th hour procedural snag amounted to a small win for Democrats on a day when Republicans were winning the war over the tax legislation, which would lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Tuesday hailed the legislation as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
“[It will] deliver historic tax relief to American families. It will help put our country on a trajectory towards more innovation and better-paying jobs. It will repeal an unfair tax at the center of ObamaCare and will help America achieve greater energy security,” he said.
Final passage on Wednesday would amount to an early Christmas present for Trump after an often frustrating year for Republicans on Capitol Hill who repeatedly fell short in their goal of repealing ObamaCare.
The tax-cut bill, however, does much to assuage the bruised feelings of Republicans. Besides resetting the tax code, the bill would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling and repeal the individual mandate to buy insurance under ObamaCare — a significant achievement for Trump.
The legislation caps off months of behind-the-scenes negotiations and public haggling, as Republicans sought to enact major policy changes that the party has been seeking for years.
The bill would temporarily lower rates for individuals and families. It would also reduce tax breaks important to states and cities with higher taxes by placing a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction.
Most of the bill's changes for individuals expire in 2025, though GOP lawmakers have predicted that lawmakers in the future will extend them — a move that would likely spike the cost of the legislation.
The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress’s official scorekeeper, estimated that the tax plan will add nearly $1.5 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. The committee has estimated that previous versions of the bill would cost around $1 trillion when economic growth is taken into account.
Republicans dispute those estimates, predicting the costs of the bill are overstated.
They argue the bill will boost an already healthy economy, leading to new investments by U.S. companies and preventing jobs from being outsourced to other countries.
But Republicans have struggled to beat back perceptions that their proposal primarily benefits corporations and the wealthy.
A CNN poll released on Tuesday found that 55 percent of respondents opposed the GOP tax plan, and two-thirds believe it will benefit the wealthy more than the middle class. A separate Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll found that 41 percent of Americans think the plan is a bad idea, an uptick from 35 percent in October.
McConnell, asked about poor polling, said Republicans were “just beginning to make the argument to the American people.”
“Look at the stock market, look at the optimism. I think the American people are going to be able — are going to begin to feel that the country is moving again after eight years of relative stagnation,” he told reporters.
But Republicans were repeatedly interrupted by protesters throughout Tuesday as they tried to tout the benefits of their legislation.
One female protester interrupted House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as he delivered a congratulatory floor speech in support of the legislation. As Ryan declared that “today, we are giving the people of this country their money back,” a woman shouted, “you’re lying!”
Democrats have lambasted the bill for weeks, arguing it's tilted toward corporations and the wealthy, rather than the middle class.
"What has been sold as a middle-class miracle will instead deliver a hefty windfall to the wealthy and only [a] paltry temporary leap for some in the middle class. Others will see an increase right from the get go," Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said minutes before the Senate started voting on Wednesday morning.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, also hit back at the GOP charge that his caucus didn’t want to participate in the tax bill saying Democrats “believe the tax code is a rotting mess and has to be fixed.”
“[But] bill was written in the shadows, written in the dark,” Wyden said.
The two items that must be struck from the House-passed bill were described by a spokesperson for the House Ways and Means Committee as “minor provisions."
One, according to the aide, is tied to 529 accounts for homeschooling expenses pushed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
The Texas senator took a swing at Democrats ahead of the vote to strike his provision, as well as the other pieces that violated the Senate rules.
"What every Democrat is standing up to do right now is saying, 'we're going to discriminate against home schoolers. We're going to cut you out.' Why? Because the Democratic Party can't stand the audacity of a parent who would take it upon himself or herself to educate their child free of centralized control," Cruz said from the Senate floor. The second concerns an exemption included in the tax bill that would allow universities with fewer than 500 tuition-paying students from having to pay the endowment excise tax.
Wyden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) seized on the ruling immediately, saying Republicans in a "mad dash to provide tax breaks for their billionaire campaign contributors" had ran afoul of the chamber's rules.
"Instead of providing tax breaks to the wealthiest people and most profitable corporations, we need to rebuild the disappearing middle class," they said in a joint statement.
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Here is an update report from Forbes on the probably final provisions of the tax bill and implications for various classes of taxpayers.
I do wish McConnell with his watery eyes and sagging cheeks would step aside. He is now touting this and patting himself on the back. He should have been in front of those microphones last January and ever day after pushing for this instead of fighting President Trump every step of the way.
Is there one true conservative poll out there anywhere about this? Only finding liberal polls..not buying that 70% of the country is against it...liberal lunacy and lies..
“A CNN poll released on Tuesday found that 55 percent of respondents opposed the GOP tax plan, and two-thirds believe it will benefit the wealthy more than the middle class.”
I have a good regulation Trump should implement. All polls have to describe in the first paragraph the methodology of the poll, the breakdown of the people chosen and the dates and times the poll was taken.”
As most of us already know, a Republican isn’t picking up the phone at 1 in the afternoon. He/she is at work.
Mr. President, I have to respectfully disagree with you sir. I am not tired of winning yet.
To every Democrat who voted against this (which means all of you), when the economy is booming come election day 2018 and you wonder why you are no longer going to be a congressscritter, remember this day, the day of your vote.
Isn’t it funny how our elected representatives have to be dragged kicking and screaming to do something FOR the American people? Isn’t it funny that democrats refuse to do anything for their constituents?
Isn’t it funny that they all get on board to impose some silly regulation on us, but never can agree to do something FOR us? Just who do they represent?
I am still of the opinion Trump is a FReeper and posts here.
Calculate the MAGA here - http://taxplancalculator.com
The media won’t be able to keep up their dem anti tax cut talking points when people see their witholdings go down starting in February.
Of course they're apprehensive. This legislation lifts the chains that so many Americans have grown to find comfortable. Freedom can be a frightening thing to those unaccustomed to it.
I buy it. The media and the democrats (there I go repeating myself again) have been attacking this bill, the entire concept of a tax cut, for months. They've told the same old tired lies over and over again, every night on every news cast and opinion show. It's hard to believe so many are so stupid but the majority still gets its news from ABCCBSNBCCNNMSNBC and they've had a steady diet of 'tax cuts for the rich' for months.
Most people will see a somewhat fatter paycheck in February...maybe that will change some minds. the biggest benefit will come from a roaring economy. That's what I'm counting on.
Good find.
Thank God that drama is finally over and no more RINOs can obstruct. The House vote should be much easier.
Yes, I’m sure once the whole bill unwraps, we will find compromises we wish weren’t made but we were able to enact a fundamental shift in the entire tax structure that will benefit most of the dwindling Middle Class and spur much more job growth and wealth creation.
No more Obamacare mandate! I am so looking forward to my 1040 this spring.
Thank you, President Trump and thank you, those in Congress who pushed this through. Real government. Real change.
Hear Hear!
Ted Cruz hit the point hard. Then the liar Blumenthal said everyone should vote against the benefit because it doesn’t fit the Byrd rule. If there were a real leader there would be a bill that is exactly the same ready to be voted on today seeking 60 votes... straight up and down and let them vote against it under those circumstances. If they do then keep saying over and over what Cruz said and make them own their lack of support for the disabled and other home schoolers..of course the Repukes were probably in on this
Only in the vile, perverted, evil mind of the leftard Demonic Party, could view delaying or stopping legislation that will benefit the majority of the country as a "small win". These POS vermin need to be eradicated from our country...
Amen to that! President Trump totally gets it!
Sorry Freepers but President Trump is my favorite President.
He’s tied with George Washington! A modern day version of him. Like George President Trump could have easily sailed off into the sunset with his Billions of dollars. Instead he is risking it all for love of family, God and country. He donates his pay check.
I love how he talks about God and Jesus Christ around Christmas. Thank God for that alone!!!
Please pray for President Trump’s safety. The disgusting filthy lying rats in the media really have it out for him. President Trump needs our prayers now more than ever. Please pray for his family’s safety, his staff, his security detail and their families and friends. Oh and ask to provide him for providence, discernment, Will and the greatest success through Jesus Christ our Lord, Savior and King.
I sort of believe the polls on the tax bill to a certain extent. Because it is real easy to think you are losing something on this when in fact your gaining.
Most people completely skim over the doubling of the standard deduction (which nearly everyone takes) and focus on the elimination or reduction of certain deductions (which they wouldn’t need or get anyway because of the doubling of the standard deduction).
Most people wont realize until April of 2019 that this actually was a HUGE tax cut for them.
I understand your frustration, I sent my son to private school plus homeschooled so I not only had to pay property tax to support the local education system but then I had to pay for the private school.
But following your logic, that means people without children shouldn’t have to pay either. Nor should those who are retired. Or empty-nesters.
Which I would actually be fine with, then our public education system would collapse and that might be a good thing. A bad brainwashing education is probably worse than none. However we do need to somehow educate the masses.
This Bill does seem to predominately punish the blue states however. And I’m not sure that wasn’t its intention. I don’t think our congressmen are smart enough to figure it out how to do that, I think Trump had a hand in this :-) and I think it is just to make the blue states accountable. If they’re going to charge exorbitant taxes, they need to take full responsibility and not try to shove part of it off onto the federal government via a tax deduction. The rest of us are paying our full federal tax owed.
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