WASHINGTON – The Latest on Republican tax overhaul legislation (all times local):
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3:10 p.m.
The Republican-led House Ways and Means Committee has beat back Democratic efforts to keep the tax break for people paying state and local levies.
The panel voted 23-16 on party lines to reject the Democrats’ amendments. They sought to restore the federal deduction for state and local income taxes that would be eliminated by the Republican legislation and to remove the $10,00G0 cap on the deduction for state and local property taxes.
The restrictions on the state and local deductions in the GOP tax plan have angered Republican lawmakers from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey.
Another Democratic amendment that would have shut down the plan’s tax cut if it increased the $20 trillion national debt in two years also failed.
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The committee is working on the legislation as Republican leaders drive to push it through Congress and to President Donald Trump’s desk by Christmas. Senate tax-writers are expected to bring forward their own bill in the coming days.
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11:35 a.m.
A House Republican is stating the political necessity for Republicans to deliver tax overhaul legislation this year.
New York Rep. Chris Collins said Tuesday, “My donors are basically saying ‘get it done or don’t ever call me again.'”
President Donald Trump and the Republicans need to show a tax bill as a major legislative accomplishment to protect their majorities in next year’s elections.
Meanwhile, Democrats on the House’s tax-writing committee plan to propose a battery of revisions to the Republican tax overhaul bill that focus on middle-class concerns like childcare and home buying.
As the committee works on the legislation, an initial amendment proposed by Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., would shut down the plan’s tax cuts if in two years the $20 trillion national debt had increased.
The amendments, without chance of approval by the Republican-dominated Ways and Means Committee, focus attention on the issue of whether the middle class would benefit from the tax plan.
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4:49 a.m.
A key House panel is digging into work on the sweeping GOP tax plan that President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress are counting on to protect their majorities in elections a year from now.
The Ways and Means Committee started debating the proposed legislation on Monday with nearly eight hours of heated argument and accusations.
Republicans say the plan would bring needed tax relief to the middle class, kick-start the lagging economy and create jobs. Democrats say it’s a tax-cut bounty for big corporations and the wealthy.
Late Monday, the panel approved late changes to the bill. The revision restored the tax exemption for employees receiving child care benefits from their companies, but also put new requirements on a tax credit used by working people of modest means.
