Jubilant Republican lawmakers early yesterday pushed on to the verge of the most sweeping rewrite of US tax laws in more than three decades, a deeply unpopular bill they insist Americans will learn to love when they see their paychecks in the new year.
US President Donald Trump cheered the lawmakers on, eager to claim his first major legislative victory.
After midnight, the US Senate narrowly passed the legislation on a party-line 51-48 vote.
Photo: EPA
Protesters interrupted with chants of “kill the bill, don’t kill us,” and US Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly called for order. Upon passage, Republicans cheered.
US Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Americans would respond positively to the tax bill.
“If we can’t sell this to the American people, we ought to go into another line of work,” he said.
Trump hailed the vote in an early morning tweet and promised a news conference, likely yesterday, when the US House of Representatives was to complete legislative action on the measure.
The early morning vote came hours after the Republicans rammed the bill through the House 227-203, but it was not the final word in Congress because of one last hiccup.
Three provisions in the bill, including its title, violated Senate rules, forcing the Senate to vote to strip them out, so the massive bill was hauled back across the Capitol for the House to vote again yesterday and Republicans have a chance to celebrate again.
Hours earlier, House Speaker Paul Ryan gleefully pounded the gavel on House vote.
Republican representatives roared and applauded as they passed the US$1.5 trillion package that would touch every US taxpayer and every corner of the nation’s economy, providing steep tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy, and more modest help for middle and low-income families.
Despite Republican talk of spending discipline, the bill would push the huge national debt ever higher.
“This was a promise made. This is a promise kept,” Ryan and other Republican leaders said at a victory news conference.
After the second House vote, the measure would then head to Trump, who is aching for a big political victory after 11 months of legislative failures and nonstarters.
Congressional Republicans have repeatedly argued the bill would spur economic growth as corporations, flush with cash, increase wages and hire more workers.
However, they acknowledge they have work to do in convincing everyday Americans. Many voters in surveys see the legislation as a boost to the wealthy, such as Trump and his family, and a minor gain at best for the middle class.
Tax cuts for corporations would be permanent, while the cuts for individuals would expire in 2026 to comply with Senate budget rules. The tax cuts would take effect next month and workers would start to see changes in the amount of taxes withheld from their paychecks in February.
The bill would slash the corporate income tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent.
The top tax rate for individuals would be lowered from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.
The legislation repeals an important part of the 2010 healthcare law — the requirement that all Americans carry health insurance or face a penalty — as the Republicans look to unravel the law they failed to repeal and replace this past summer.
It also allows oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
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