Senate passes big bill, sends it back to House for final vote
The bill passed 51-50 in the Senate on Tuesday, after Vice President Vance cast a tie-breaking vote. Three GOP senators, Thom Tillis, N.C.; Susan Collins, Maine; and Rand Paul, Ky., joined all Democrats in voting against it, reports The Associated Press.
House Republican leaders are working toward a Wednesday or Thursday vote on the bill, as they try to meet Trump’s demand that it be finished by July 4.
Some House conservatives, such as Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., say they won’t vote for the Senate-passed version of the bill, which is even more expensive than the House version.
The bill passed the House Rules Committee early on Wednesday, with Norman and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, siding with Democrats in voting against it, reports ABC News.
House lawmakers will have little time to read or absorb the changes that were made in the Senate, many at the last minute to win the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, says a separate AP article.
Murkowski is taking a lot of heat for voting for the bill. She’s been in the Senate for nearly 23 years and, often accompanied by Collins, “has been under a microscope for almost every major vote in the Senate in recent years,” says a third AP article.
The Senate bill mentions California three times and Texas twice. But Alaska is in the bill 19 times, from new oil and gas lease sales in the state to tax breaks for Alaska fisheries and whalers to tribal exemptions for work requirements, says AP.
Murkowski eventually decided to support the legislation in the hours after the Senate parliamentarian approved language to allow several states with the worst error rates in the food stamp program — including Alaska — to postpone having to pay a greater portion of the cost of federal benefits, and after Republicans added a $50 billion fund proposed by Collins to help rural hospitals that might otherwise be hurt by Medicaid cuts. Nearly a third of Alaska’s population is covered by Medicaid.
“I held my head up and made sure that the people of Alaska are not forgotten in this, but I think that there is more that needs to be done, and I’m not done,” Murkowski said, calling for both chambers to go to conference rather than simply accepting the narrowly passed Senate bill, Politico reports.
The top headline in Wednesday’s New York Times early-morning email is “Poorest Americans dealt biggest blow under Senate Republican tax package.”
The Hill reports that the Senate’s version of the bill would make significant changes to student loan programs, worrying advocates that borrowers will face higher monthly payments.
The phone number to call your House member to let them know how you think they should vote on the bill — or to thank them, if you know they’ll be voting the way you’d hope they’d represent you — is (202) 224-3121.