Update: The tax cut bill has hit a procedural snag that will require changes to the legislation. As a result, the House will have to vote to approve the bill again.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled on Tuesday after that three provisions included in the bill passed by the House did not comply with Senate budget rules. Republican lawmakers will strip the provisions from the bill prior to the Senate’s vote Tuesday night. The House would then have to take up the measure once again.
The relevant provisions are minor. One allows tax-advantaged education savings accounts to be used homeschooling expenses. Another touches on an exemption from a new excise tax on college endowments.
The changes are not expected to put the tax overhaul in peril. The House could vote again later tonight but will most likely wait until Wednesday morning, a Republican staff member said.
Original article
The House passed the most sweeping tax overhaul in decades on Tuesday, taking a significant step to cutting taxes for most American households and businesses.
With 227 Republican votes, the House approved the tax cut bill on Tuesday afternoon. No Democrats supported the measure, and 12 Republicans voted against it.
The focus now shifts to the Senate, where Republicans appear to have enough votes to pass the legislation. On Monday, Maine’s Sen. Susan Collins said she would vote for the bill, bringing the likely votes in favor to at least fifty. Sen. John McCain is not expected to vote on the bill due to ongoing health issues.
Approval for the tax cuts comes just four days after a panel of lawmakers from the House and Senate agreed to a new version of the bill reconciling the differences between bills passed earlier by the two chambers. The bill lowers taxes for every income bracket and reduces the tax rate for corporate profits to 21 percent.
The legislation is expected to accelerate economic growth, adding as much as 1.3 percent to the American economy. The Trump administration says it expects that greater growth will drive wages higher for many American workers.
Tax bills are expected to fall for about 70 percent of U.S. households. About half of the tax cuts will go to the middle class, according to data from the Joint Committee on Taxation.