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House Moves Quickly to Finish Tax Vote, a ‘Historic Victory for the American People,’ Trump Says House Gives Final Approval to Sweeping Tax Overhaul
(35 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — The House planned to move quickly to hold a final vote on the tax bill after the Senate gave its approval early Wednesday morning. The House Rules Committee held an 8 a.m. meeting on the bill, a procedural step before the full House votes later in the day. WASHINGTON — The House, forced to vote a second time on the $1.5 trillion tax bill, moved swiftly to pass the final version on Wednesday, clearing the way for President Trump to sign into law the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades.
President Trump said Wednesday was an important day for the United States. House lawmakers approved the tax bill 224 to 201 on Wednesday, after being forced to vote on the bill again after last-minute revisions were made to the Senate bill, which passed that chamber 51-48 early Wednesday morning.
“We had a historic victory for the American people,” Mr. Trump said of the tax bill before a meeting with his cabinet. “It will be an incredible Christmas gift for hard-working Americans.” The final House vote was essentially a formality, as the changes, which were made to comply with Senate budget rules, did not significantly alter the overall bill. But the need for a second vote gave ammunition to Democrats, who had already accused Republicans of trying to rush the tax overhaul through the House and Senate.
The revisions to the tax bill made in the Senate are minor, so there is no suspense about the outcome of the House’s final vote. Before the vote, there will be 20 minutes of debate, according to a schedule released by the majority leader, Representative Kevin McCarthy of California. “We are five days away from Christmas, but it feels like Groundhog Day,” said Representative Louise M. Slaughter, Democrat of New York, who denounced the process by which Republicans undertook their tax rewrite as “nothing short of an abomination.”
Mr. Trump congratulated Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader, on Twitter on Wednesday. Representative Lloyd Doggett, Democrat of Texas, said, “We will be cleaning up this mess and the blunders in this bill all of next year.”
But the need for a second vote gave ammunition to Democrats, who have already accused Republicans of trying to rush the tax overhaul through the House and Senate. The tax rewrite is the biggest legislative achievement for Republicans since they gained full control of Congress and the White House. The tax bill delivers deep and permanent tax cuts for corporations while providing temporary tax cuts for individual taxpayers, including the wealthiest Americans.
“The House revote is the latest evidence of just how shoddily written the G.O.P. tax scam really is,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader. “The wealthy and well connected will be exploiting the hidden loopholes and giveaways in the G.O.P. tax scam for years to come.” Mr. Trump is scheduled to hold a “bill passage event” at the White House with lawmakers at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, where he is expected to continue his public praise of the bill’s passage. On Wednesday, Mr. Trump cheered the tax cuts on Twitter and lamented “the Fake News” and “the defeated Dems” who “demean” the cuts.
Mr. Trump is scheduled to hold a “bill passage event” at the White House with lawmakers at 3 p.m. on Wednesday, where he is expected to continue his victory lap on the legislation’s passage. Republicans passed the bill under special procedures that allowed them to avoid a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, where they have a narrow majority. But as a result, they had to abide by budget rules that limited the contents of their bill, and three provisions were deemed by the Senate parliamentarian to run afoul of those rules.
Those components included a provision to allow the use of 529 savings accounts for homeschooling expenses, as well as part of the criteria for determining whether colleges and universities are subject to an excise tax imposed on their investment income. The provision naming the bill as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was deemed out of bounds, too, because it would not have a budgetary effect.
Senate Democrats challenged the problematic language, which was subsequently removed from the bill, necessitating another vote in the House.
“If you believe it’s an important use of the Democratic minority’s time on the Senate side to strike the title of the bill because it doesn’t actually impact deficit reduction, it is within their right,” said Representative Rob Woodall, Republican of Georgia. “Does it represent the highest and best use of their time? It does not.”
But Mr. Doggett seized on the last-minute development.
“It is a bill that has no name, and of course it has no heart,” he said.
Mr. Doggett suggested that the bill could be called the “Donald J. Trump Windfall Bill,” arguing that Mr. Trump and his family would be enriched by the tax rewrite.