JUBILANT Republicans pushed to the verge of the most sweeping rewrite of US tax laws in more than three decades yesterday.
The Senate narrowly passed the legislation on a party-line vote, 51-48, after midnight with protesters interrupting with chants of “kill the bill, don’t kill us” and vice president Mike Pence repeatedly calling for order.
Upon passage, Republicans cheered, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin among them. The early morning vote came hours after the Republican party 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 on Wednesday, and Republicans have a chance to celebrate again.
Hours earlier, House Speaker Paul Ryan, who has worked years toward the goal of revamping the tax code, gleefully pounded the gavel on the House vote.
Republican House members roared and applauded as they passed the $1.5 trillion dollar that will touch every American taxpayer and every corner of the US 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 will 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 delay for a second House vote, the measure then heads to President Donald Trump, who is aching for a win after 11 months of legislative failures and nonstarters. The president tweeted his congratulations to Republican leaders and to “all great House Republicans who voted in favor of cutting your taxes!”
Congressional Republicans, who faltered badly in trying to dismantle Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act, see passage of the tax bill as crucial to proving to Americans they can govern.
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