So, the House will have to re-vote on the GOP tax plan after a procedural glitch
After an embarrassing — for Republicans — processing issue surrounding the infamous #TaxScam, the House has to re-vote on the GOP tax plan. Democrats in the Senate pushed back on three minor violations to the Byrd Rule, which governs the budget process that Republicans use for tax reform. Interestingly enough, one of these violations involves the title of the bill. (LOL.)
The Republican tax plan, officially called “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” has been a standing conversation for months and was deemed a tax scam across Twitter. But now, there are greater issues than the plan’s dangerous details — because there are violations that set the bill back a full day of House voting.
The exact violations encompass using tax-advantaged savings plans for homeschooling expenses instead of college fees, criteria that excludes students at specific private universities from receiving a new tax on their endowments, and the name. (LMAO, can’t get over this.) Apparently, the title of the bill is too short. The ruling of these infractions came after House Republicans were congratulating themselves on a job well done. But, apparently, they forgot the details that really matter.
“In the mad dash to provide tax breaks for their billionaire campaign contributors, our Republican colleagues forgot to comply with the rules of the Senate,” said Bernie Sanders and Oregon senator Ron Wyden in a joint statement. “We applaud the parliamentarian for determining that three provisions in this disastrous bill are in violation of the Byrd rule. It is our intention to raise a point of order to remove these provisions from the conference report and require the House to vote on this bill again.”
Just In: the House has to vote on the tax bill AGAIN.
Why? Dems challenged 3 parts of bill on the Byrd Rule and they won.
The 3 issues are:
1. Using 529 plans for homeschooling expenses
2. The title of the bill
3. Part of criteria used for uni endowment tax pic.twitter.com/g3CzQ1A38s— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) December 19, 2017
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s office announced that House members should be prepared to re-vote on the tax bill Wednesday, December 20th. The Senate plans to keep their vote to Tuesday night, and the House will now have to agree to the new stipulations put in place, since it’s technically a new bill. While this is only a minor setback for the GOP, it will slow the process required for the bill to become a law, and that’s the best we can hope for right now.
