{"id":55066,"date":"2017-12-20T06:32:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-20T06:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/?p=55066"},"modified":"2017-12-20T06:32:14","modified_gmt":"2017-12-20T06:32:14","slug":"republican-tax-bill-passes-senate-in-51-48-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biphoo.com\/bipnews\/politics\/republican-tax-bill-passes-senate-in-51-48-vote.html","title":{"rendered":"Republican Tax Bill Passes Senate in 51-48 Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Republican Tax Bill Passes Senate in 51-48 Vote<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Republican Tax Bill Passes Senate in 51-48 Vote:- Republicans took a critical step toward notching their first significant legislative victory since assuming full political control, as the House and Senate voted along party lines on Tuesday and into early Wednesday to pass the most sweeping rewrite of the tax code in decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

The $1.5 trillion tax bill, which is expected to head to President Trump\u2019s desk in the coming days, will have broad effects on the economy, making deep and lasting cuts to corporate taxes as well as temporarily lowering individual taxes.<\/span><\/p>\n

The endeavor was not without hiccups, however, as three small provisions in the final tax bill agreed to by the House and Senate were found by the Senate parliamentarian to violate the budget rules that Republicans must follow to pass their bill through a process that shields it from a Democratic filibuster. As a result, the bill changed slightly in the Senate, and the House will now need to vote on it again since both chambers must approve identical legislation. Among the items that were deemed out of order was the title of the bill: the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.<\/span><\/p>\n

The approval of the bill in the House and Senate came over the strenuous objections of Democrats, who have accused Republicans of giving a gift to corporations and the wealthy and driving up the federal debt in the process.<\/span><\/p>\n

As the final vote approached in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, the Democratic leader, gave his closing argument against the bill and scolded his Republican colleagues for talking during his remarks on the floor.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is serious stuff,\u201d Mr. Schumer said. \u201cWe believe you\u2019re messing up America. You could pay attention for a couple of minutes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader, called the tax bill a scam, saying it \u201cis simply theft \u2014 monumental, brazen theft from the American middle class and from every person who aspires to reach it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On Tuesday afternoon, the House voted 227 to 203 to pass the bill, with 12 Republicans voting against it and no Democrats voting for it. Eleven of the 12 Republicans were from California, New Jersey and New York, states that would be hit hard by a provision in the bill limiting the deduction for state and local taxes to just $10,000. The Senate approved the bill early Wednesday morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Senate voted 51 to 48, with no Republican defections and no Democratic support.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the final tax bill, the corporate tax rate would fall to 21 percent, from the current 35 percent, a move that Republicans are betting will increase economic growth, create jobs and raise wages. Individuals would also see tax cuts, including a top rate of 37 percent, down from 39.6 percent. The size of inheritances shielded from estate taxation would double, to $22 million for married couples, and owners of pass-through businesses, whose profits are taxed through the individual code, would be able to deduct 20 percent of their business income.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the individual tax cuts would expire after 2025, a step that Republicans took to comply with budget rules, which do not allow the package to add to the deficit after a decade.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tax changes will affect businesses and individuals unevenly, with winners and losers often being determined by industry or geography. An analysis by the Tax Policy Center found that the bill would reduce taxes, on average, by about $1,600 in 2018, increasing after-tax incomes 2.2 percent, with the largest benefit going to the wealthiest households.<\/span><\/p>\n

The reach of the bill extends beyond taxes. It strikes at a core component of the Affordable Care Act, eliminating the requirement that most people have health coverage or pay a penalty, a move that the Congressional Budget Office projects will increase premiums for people who buy insurance. It also would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to oil and gas drilling, a defeat for environmentalists who have fought against such action for decades.<\/span><\/p>\n

The last-minute parliamentary stumble involved three small components of the bill, according to Senate Democrats, including a provision that would have allowed the use of 529 savings accounts for homeschooling expenses and part of the criteria to be used to determine whether colleges and universities are subject to an excise tax imposed on their investment income. The parliamentarian even ruled against the bill\u2019s name, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, since the provision creating the name did not influence spending or revenue, as each provision must under Senate budget rules.<\/span><\/p>\n

The chief tax writer in the House, Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, was unruffled.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOur belief is, \u2018So what?\u2019\u201d Mr. Brady said on Fox News. \u201cIf we can get to vote twice on cutting taxes for families and small businesses, glad to do it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Republicans in Congress moved with remarkable speed in their bid to enact the biggest tax overhaul since 1986, unveiling legislation to rewrite the tax code, marshaling support for their effort and devising a compromise between the House and Senate in under two months.<\/span><\/p>\n

The success within reach would be a stark contrast with their attempt this year to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, a quest that was encumbered by internal divisions among Republicans and ultimately ended in humiliating failure.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople wanted to get it done,\u201d Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the No. 2 Senate Republican, said of the tax rewrite. \u201cThat\u2019s the single biggest difference.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

It would also give Mr. Trump a signature accomplishment as the first year of his presidency nears an end. After the House vote, Mr. Trump took to Twitter to congratulate House Republican leaders as well as \u201call great House Republicans who voted in favor of cutting your taxes!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday, Mr. Trump acknowledged the Senate\u2019s vote in a tweet: \u201cSenate just passed the biggest in history Tax Cut and Reform Bill. Terrible Individual Mandate (ObamaCare)Repealed.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In recent days, critics of the tax bill have argued that it will enrich a number of Republican lawmakers who supported it. They pointed specifically to Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and Mr. Trump himself, who both hold real estate investments that will get favorable tax treatment through the legislation.<\/span><\/p>\n

The White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, pushed back on the notion that Mr. Trump would save money as a result of the tax plan. \u201cI know that there are a number of provisions that would negatively impact the president personally,\u201d Ms. Sanders said.<\/span><\/p>\n

At the Capitol, the mood among Republicans was largely triumphant. But Democrats were already looking ahead with a focus on next year\u2019s midterm elections, when they hope to wrest control of the House and Senate. Polls have shown that the Republican tax overhaul is unpopular with the public, and Democrats hope to turn the biggest Republican legislative achievement into a liability in next year\u2019s races.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mr. Schumer warned that Republicans would come to regret rushing the tax bill through Congress on their own.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis tax bill will be an anchor around the ankles of every Republican,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Protesters also made themselves heard as both chambers voted. As senators cast their final votes on the bill, protesters rose in the gallery of the chamber and began chanting \u201cKill the bill, don\u2019t kill us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

On the floor of the Senate, the Treasury secretary, Steven Mnuchin, observed the proceedings, as senators mingled. The Republican senators Susan Collins of Maine and Jeff Flake of Arizona laughed as they spoke to each other while protesters implored them to change their minds and vote down the legislation.<\/span><\/p>\n

But Republicans predicted that their support of the tax bill would be vindicated as voters see its effects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI frankly think Democrats have overplayed their hand,\u201d Mr. Brady told reporters, \u201cbecause when people back home and our local businesses see the tax relief, they\u2019re going to know they weren\u2019t really told the truth by the opponents of tax reform.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

While the effect of the bill on people\u2019s bank accounts and on the broader economy remains to be seen, there was little debate on Tuesday about the magnitude of what Republicans were on the verge of accomplishing.<\/span><\/p>\n

Bob Packwood, the former Republican senator from Oregon who helped lead the 1986 tax effort, said that this year\u2019s bill was at least as sweeping as the one that Ronald Reagan signed into law 31 years ago, even though the bills had different goals.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey have achieved things that I was unable to achieve,\u201d Mr. Packwood said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source:-\u00a0https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2017\/12\/19\/us\/politics\/tax-bill-vote-congress.html<\/span><\/p>\n

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