US President Donald Trump’s US$4.5 trillion tax cut bill prevailed in a crucial US Senate test vote after hours of negotiations between US Vice President J.D. Vance and Republican Party leaders and holdouts.
The 51-49 vote, which was held open for about four hours, is a sign that Republican leaders are resolving the infighting over portions of the legislation and moving toward meeting Friday’s deadline the US president has set for passage.
US Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his lieutenants might still need to tweak portions of Trump’s signature economic legislation to win the 50 votes it needs to pass the Senate.
Photo: Reuters
However, the Senate on Saturday voted to begin debate on the legislation just hours after party leaders unveiled the latest version of the massive tax and spending package.
Two Republicans — Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted against the motion. A third, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, switched his vote after meeting with Vance and Thune.
Johnson told reporters that Trump and Senate leaders agreed to support an amendment to phase out the 90 percent Medicaid match for the expansion population under the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson said it would hopefully lead to hundreds of billions in additional savings. However, that plan could result in a revolt from moderates in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, given many states now rely on the funding.
Trump had golfed earlier in the day with Paul, a frequent foe. The US president, who had been monitoring the Senate action from the Oval Office, swiftly threatened to find a Republican challenger for Tillis’ seat.
Democrats have now demanded a full reading of the bill text, which could be pushed to a final vote today.
The bill includes about US$4.5 trillion worth of tax cuts, according to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
However, Republicans are aiming for only US$693 billion of those tax reductions to count in the official bill cost — assuming they are able to successfully use a budget gimmick that would not count the extension of Trump’s first-term cuts in the price tag.
Despite broad Republican support for the tax cuts and spending increases for immigration enforcement and defense at the core of the package, party leaders have struggled to balance competing demands from the Republican Party’s discordant ideological factions.
Conservatives are demanding larger spending cuts to offset the tax cuts. Moderates are worried about the scale of proposed cuts to safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. Some senators from states with significant renewable energy industries are trying to soften the rapid phase-out of green energy tax credits.
Thune and other party leaders have also been trying to resolve lesser skirmishes, such as one on a provision to block states from regulating artificial intelligence.
A new draft of the bill unveiled early Saturday morning attempted to win over moderates on the Medicaid issue and conservatives on renewable energy.
CLOSURES: Several forest recreation areas have been closed as a precaution, while some ferry and flight services have been suspended or rescheduled A land warning for Tropical Storm Danas was issued last night at 8:30pm, as the storm’s outer bands began bringing heavy rain to southeastern regions, including Hualien and Taitung counties, and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島), according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). As of 9:15pm, the storm was approximately 330km west-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, moving north-northeast at 10-20kph, the CWA reported. A sea warning had already been issued at 8:30am yesterday. The storm had maximum sustained winds near its center of 83kph, with gusts of up to 108kph, according to the CWA. As of 9:30pm last night, Kaohsiung, Tainan,
POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
RSS