Update: Tax Bill Moves Forward
Washington DC — The Senate has voted on a procedural hurdle to move the Tax Bill onto the floor for debate. The motion passed on a 52–48 vote directly on party lines.
6 Republican Senators currently hold reservations on the bill, YDACC WhipTrack currently has the vote expectation at 47–53, meaning that the leadership in the Republican party will at need 3 votes in order to pass the legislation, with the tie vote being the Vice-President. Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) said in a statement that he voted to advance onto the floor “after agreeing in principle” with the leadership after threatening to hold-up the bill in committee. We have his vote assumed at “Aye” in assumption that an addition to the bill is currently underway.
President Donald Trump spoke today in Saint Louis, Missouri in an effort to push along the efforts being made in Washington through galvanization of the public. Trump is selling these efforts to a largely working class Midwestern base, similar to that of holdout Senators Jerry Moran (R-KS) and James Langford (R-OK) saying that this tax plan will benefit “The plumbers, the carpenters, the cops, the teachers, the truck drivers, the pipe fitters. The people that like me best.”
CBO and independent economists have scored this bill to increase the American Deficit by 1.4 Trillion over ten years, and with much of the tax savings being collected at the highest level, thanks to generous cuts in the Capital Gains Tax Rate. Under the tax plan, tax cuts will lead to higher tax burdens for those making under $75,000, which includes most of the professions above. In addition, the bill cuts Graduate Tuition Wavers and taxes Endowments, significantly harming Education systems across this country.
The bill will now move to a period of floor time whereby all relevant amendments will be offered, debated, and voted upon, after which, the Senate will vote on the bill, unless tabled.
VOTE COUNT:
Aye (52; 52 R, 0 D, 0 I): Alexander, Barasso, Blunt, Boozeman, Burr, Capito, Cassidy, Cochran, Collins, Corker, Cornyn, Cotton, Crapo, Cruz, Daines, Enzi, Ernst, Fischer, Flake, Gardner, Graham, Grassley, Hatch, Heller, Hoeven, Inhofe, Isakson, Johnson, Kennedy, Lankford, Lee, McCain, McConnell, Moran, Murkowski, Paul, Perdue, Portman, Risch, Roberts, Rounds, Rubio, Sasse, Scott, Shelby, Strange, Sullivan, Thune, Tillis, Toomey, Wicker, Young
Nay (48; 0 R, 46 D, 2 I): Baldwin, Bennet, Blumenthal, Booker, Brown, Cantwell, Cardin, Carper, Casey, Coons, Cortez Masto, Donnelly, Duckworth, Durbin, Feinstein, Franken, Gillibrand, Harris, Hassan, Heinrich, Heitkamp, Hirono, Kaine, King, Klobuchar, Leahy, Manchin, Markey, McCaskill, Menendez, Murphy, Murray, Nelson, Peters, Reed, Sanders, Schatz, Schumer, Shaheen, Stabenow, Tester, Udall, Van Hollen, Warner, Warren, Whitehouse, Wyden
