Despite procedural setbacks, the House is set to send a tax
reform bill to President Trump's desk today after the Senate passed its own
version on a party-line vote slightly after midnight on Wednesday morning.
The House already passed a reform package late in the day on
Tuesday but must hold another vote after it was discovered there were
provisions in the bill that violated Senate rules. The reconciliation process
Congressional Republicans are using to avoid a Senate filibuster from Democrats
dictates that legislation must follow a strict set of budgetary rules. The
Senate stripped out the portions that violated the so-called “Byrd Rule” and
sent a revised version back to the House.
The final bill expected to pass preserves private activity
bonds and the medical expense deduction, two provisions AHCA/NCAL said should
be included. The initial House version passed earlier this year eliminated
these important tax resources for non-profit providers and long term care
patients but revisions later reinstated the provisions.
The potential legislative victory for Congressional
Republicans is overshadowed by lingering disputes on year-end government
funding and spending deals. Unlike tax reform, Republican leadership will need
help from Democrats to pass funding bills through the Senate, and Democrats
have threatened to pull their support unless specific provisions are included,
such as funding of health insurance subsidies.
Meanwhile, it does not seem as if the House version of any
spending package will include the provision to help the insurance markets
created by the 2010 health care law that still remain controversial with
conservative Republicans. If the House passes a bill without the cost-sharing
subsidy and leaves for the Christmas holiday, Senators could be forced to vote
for a less-optimal bill or shut down the government.
Negotiations over tax reform have left little time for
Congressional leadership to reconcile differences between the two chambers: the
deadline for funding is December 22.
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