House Passes Tax Reform 227-205 – Here’s what’s in the bill and the 13 GOP Reps Who Voted No
The U.S. House of Representatives passed their version of tax reform on Thursday afternoon by a largely party-line vote.
H.R. 1, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by a 227 to 205 vote with all Democrats and 13 Republicans voting against the measure.
https://youtu.be/dbMiLL8FGcM
The 13 Republicans that voted no were:
- Tom McClintock (CA)
- Dana Rohrabacher (CA)
- Darrell Issa of (CA)
- Frank LoBiondo (NJ)
- Chris Smith (NJ)
- Leonard Lance (NJ)
- Rodney Frelinghuysen (NJ)
- Lee Zeldin of (NY)
- Pete King (NY)
- Daniel Donovan (NY)
- John Faso (NY)
- Elise Stefanik (NY)
- Walter Jones (NC)
Republicans had originally removed the deduction for state and local taxes (SALT) but added the property tax deduction back in to aid passage. State income taxes would be non-deductible under the House measure. That explains the huge revolt from the New Jersey, California, New York coalition. The North Carolina “no” is from a Congressman who represents coastal North Carolina so it’s unclear what in the bill turned him away.
“This is nothing less than extraordinary,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a press conference after the vote. “This country has not rewritten its tax code since 1986.”
The speaker thanked the president for his efforts to drive tax reform and especially for his visit just before the vote.
See: H.R. 1 Tax and Jobs Act [Full Text] and What’s in the House tax reform bill
Differences between the House and Senate versions of the bill mean that if the Senate is able to pass their bill, the two measures will have to go to a conference committee to have their differences resolved. After that, both chambers will have to pass the resulting bill to send it to President Trump for signature.
The Senate has a slim margin for error considering their razor-thin majority. If they lose more than three Senators, the bill will fail as Obamacare repeal did earlier this year. The largest points of contention in the Senate are the removal of the state and local tax deduction (SALT) and the fact that the tax cut for business owners who claim business income on their individual returns – pass-thru – is smaller than the cut for corporations.
While the Senate is in session tomorrow, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he doesn’t expect the Senate to vote on their version of the bill until the week after Thanksgiving.
