UPDATE (4:41 PM):

The House of Representatives will have to vote again on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Wednesday morning, per the parliamentarian.

JUST IN: Because of some parliamentarian issues with the House-passed version of the tax reform bill the Senate will vote tonight to change some provisions, and the House will have to revote tomorrow morning. — Frank Thorp V (@frankthorp) December 19, 2017

In a statement released by House Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), there were three issues found by the Senate Parliamentarian that violate the Byrd Rule and will have to be removed before the Senate vote later Tuesday night.

And here is the extra vote announcement from the House Majority Leader's office. pic.twitter.com/TKqbPrpp3y — Jennifer Shutt (@JenniferShutt) December 19, 2017

The House of Representatives voted 227 to 203 on Tuesday to pass the final version of the GOP Tax Cut and Jobs Act.

Lawmakers had just four days to read through the 503-page bill after it was released on Friday. Just hours before the House was set to vote, even top Republicans on the tax writing committee couldn’t speak to the basic details of the bill.

I asked Kevin Brady — THE WAYS AND MEANS CHAIRMAN — if he could name the tax brackets. He said he could, and he knew there were seven, but he refused to name them. (Or he couldn’t name them.) I’m currently 0-11 on a House Republicans who can name the brackets in this bill. — Matt Fuller (@MEPFuller) December 19, 2017

The final bill is expected to be a deficit-buster, costing roughly $1.46 trillion dollars according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. That deficit could be much higher if Congress fails to extend the individual tax cuts, which are set to expire after 2025. Corporations, however, will get a permanent tax cut which cost $1 trillion dollars alone, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation.


America’s health care system will also take a devastating blow thanks to the bill. The individual mandate, a provision of the Affordable Care Act that required individuals be covered by heath insurance or face a tax, is repealed in the bill. The Congressional Budget Office estimates this will result in 13 million more uninsured Americans. Cuts to Medicare and Social Security be soon on the horizon as well.

Middle-class Americans, who Trump and his administration have repeatedly stated will stand to benefit the most from the GOP tax plan, will likely see a tax hike or little-to-no difference in their taxes.

Analysis of the final tax bill from the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that taxpayers in the bottom quintile (making less than $25,000 a year) would get an average tax cut of roughly $60. Taxpayers in the middle income quintile (those with income between about $49,000 and $86,000) would receive an average tax cut of about $900. Meanwhile, taxpayers making more than $733,000 annually would receive an average cut of $51,000.

Meanwhile, Trump and his wealthy real estate and hedge fund associates are poised to reap the biggest benefits.

More than 3/4's of the Trump-GOP tax bill would go to the top 20% of taxpayers and foreign investors in 2019. https://t.co/hgeWKSpnY6 pic.twitter.com/vkmqWoxA8A — ITEP (@iteptweets) December 19, 2017

Trump told a crowd at a September event in Indiana that the tax plan is “not good for him,” but it is very, very good for him. Trump and his family could save more than $1.1 billion dollars under the plan, but because he hasn’t released his taxes, there’s no way of knowing the exact extent to which his tax plan benefits Trump.


The American public has caught on to this scam. A recent CNN poll from Tuesday found only 33 percent of Americans say they favor the GOP tax bill, while 55 percent oppose it, making this legislation the most unpopular bill in 30 years.

In spite of this, the Senate is expected to vote on the final bill Tuesday evening.