Senators Clash Over Last Minute Changes to Tax Bill
A conflict has arisen between Republican and Democratic senators over the changes that Republican officials have made to their proposed tax legislation. Votes are due in both chambers of Congress shortly on the proposed overhaul, but Democrats have taken issue with the insertion of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act’s mandate that most people to have health insurance, which has been replaced with a 2025 expiration date for individual tax cuts. Corporate tax cuts have been made permanent. The changes will allow the Republican party to save over $300bn over a decade, but the Congressional Budget Office has said that 13m fewer people would have insurance after a decade without the ACA mandate, and insurance premiums would rise approximately 10%. The Republicans have insisted that the individual mandate is a tax, and is a legitimate modification. The proposed legislative changes will theoretically add over $1.4tn to the federal debt over a 10 year period. The tax bill will also be merged with legislation that will allow the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to be opened to oil and gas drilling. The Republicans plan to protect that law from Democratic filibustering in the Senate, and when combined with the tax reform legislation, the two proposed laws would both be protected. The Trump administration has pushed Congress to resolve its differences to push the tax bill through, though, at present, there is a large divide between the House and Senate tax bills.

WASHINGTON — Uncertainty gripped the Senate on Wednesday over efforts to pass a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax cut after a Wisconsin Republican became the first senator in his party to declare that he could not vote for the tax bill as written, and other senators expressed serious misgivings over the cost and effect on the middle class.

The House is set on Thursday to pass its own version of the tax bill, which would cut taxes by more than $1.4 trillion over 10 years and broadly rewrite the business tax code. But as with the health care debate earlier this year, the Senate emerged as the inconstant ally in President Trump’s pursuit of a major legislative accomplishment in his first year.

Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, came out against both chambers’ tax plans on Wednesday, saying that the bills favored corporations over small businesses and other so-called pass-through entities, whose owners pay taxes on profits through the tax code for individuals.

“These businesses truly are the engines of innovation and job creation throughout our economy, and they should not be left behind,” he said in a statement. “Unfortunately, neither the House nor Senate bill provide fair treatment, so I do not support either in their current versions.”