Update: Bloomberg, NBC, Associated Press and the Wall Street Journalare reporting that the House will likely have to vote again on thetax bill it just approved. The issue is seen as a proceduralhiccup, rather than anything that could jeopardize thelegislation’s passage: see "McCarthy says House will have to voteagain"
|The House of Representatives passed by a 227-203 vote TuesdayH.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
|The final GOP tax bill now moves to the Senate, where a vote isexpected later in the day. President Donald Trump is expected tosign the legislation into law as soon as Wednesday.
|Related: Yellen isn't buying Trump's talk of taxbill
|In the House, 12 Republicans voted against the bill, while all Democrats voted no.
|Last week, “we came together in a House-Senate ConferenceCommittee — which I had the honor of leading — to deliverone unified, transformational tax reform bill for the Americanpeople,” said House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady,R-Texas.
|“This bill is — and always has been — focused ondelivering more jobs, fairer taxes, and bigger paychecks tohardworking Americans nationwide.”
|But Democrats lambasted the bill Tuesday on the House floorbefore the vote.
|“Republicans have made clear that cuts to Social Security,Medicaid and Medicare are next,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene,D-Wash.
|“What happened to the postcard?” asked Rep. Richard Neal,D-Mass., referring to the simplification of tax filing thatRepublicans had promised.“You’re going to need a billboard tounderstand what’s in this bill.”
|House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., countered in his Tuesday floorcomments supporting the bill’s passage that “nearly nine out of 10Americans will be able to do their taxes on a form the size of apostcard.”
|With the bill, the Republicans are “adding $1.5 trillion to thenational debt,” Neal added. “Merry Christmas.”
|Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., the minority whip, said that “historywill indeed remember this vote,” stating that the legislation“increases taxes for 86 million middle-class households” and thatit “will trigger a $25 million cut in Medicare.”
|Hoyer called the legislation “dangerous and partisan.”
|Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., said he opposed the bill “with all thebones in my body,” calling it a “gift to Wall Street” and the richthat was “conceived in the dark of night.”
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Melanie Waddell
Melanie is senior editor and Washington bureau chief of ThinkAdvisor. Her ThinkAdvisor coverage zeros in on how politics, policy, legislation and regulations affect the investment advisory space. Melanie’s coverage has been cited in various lawmakers’ reports, letters and bills, and in the Labor Department’s fiduciary rule in 2023. In 2019, Melanie received an Honorable Mention, Range of Work by a Single Author award from @Folio. Melanie joined Investment Advisor magazine as New York bureau chief in 2000. She has been a columnist since 2002. She started her career in Washington in 1994, covering financial issues at American Banker. Since 1997, Melanie has been covering investment-related issues, holding senior editorial positions at American Banker publications in both Washington and New York. Briefly, she was content chief for Internet Capital Group’s EFinancialWorld in New York and wrote freelance articles for Institutional Investor. Melanie holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Towson University. She interned at The Baltimore Sun and its suburban edition.
