President Donald Trump walks with House Speaker Paul Ryan on Thursday as they leave a meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill in Washington. Trump was at the Capitol for a pep rally with House Republicans shortly before the chamber voted to approve the tax reform bill. | Jacquelyn Martin/AP House passes massive GOP tax cuts It’s a victory for Trump and Ryan, though getting a bill through the Senate won’t be easy.

House Republicans passed a $5.5 trillion tax bill Thursday, in a major step toward rewriting the nation’s tax code and providing a sorely needed legislative victory for President Donald Trump.

The bill passed 227-205, with 13 Republicans breaking with leadership to vote against the legislation. Not a single Democrat backed the bill, highlighting the sharp partisan split as the tax fight moves to the narrowly-divided Senate.


"This is about giving hardworking taxpayers bigger paychecks, more take-home pay... It's about getting this economy to grow faster, so we get bigger wages, more jobs, and we put America in the driver's seat in the global economy one again," said Speaker Paul Ryan.

The legislation would slash the corporate tax rate to 20 percent starting next year, down from 35 percent. It sets the top small business rate at 25 percent for pass-through entities and also includes a far lower rate of 9 percent for some types of small businesses on the first $75,000 of profits.

For individuals, it axes a number of popular deductions, including the state and local tax deduction, medical expenses deduction and student loan deductions but would double the standard deduction and condense the seven tax brackets into four.

Passage represents a significant victory for Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady and Ryan, who GOP sources joke has been dreaming of this moment since he was in diapers. The last full overhaul of the tax code, done in 1986, took many months to complete. The House unveiled a bill just two weeks ago. And after months of complaints by Trump and conservatives nationwide, Republicans finally got a win on a key plank in the party's agenda.

The White House issued a statement that the vote is "a big step toward fulfilling our promise to deliver historic tax cuts for the American people by the end of the year."

Still, House passage is just the beginning of what’s likely to be a lengthy few weeks of intraparty haggling to get the bill to Trump’s desk. The Senate still has to clear its own tax bill. And that will be an uphill battle.

Already Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WIs.) has come out against the Senate’s tax bill, arguing that small businesses are “left behind” in the legislation. The Senate tax proposal also includes a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate at Trump’s insistence, which could repel moderate Republicans like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and give Democrats further ammunition to blast the legislation.

The White House in recent months has made a conscious attempt to try to woo Senate Democrats in case they can’t muster the 51 Republican votes needed for passage. Trump phoned several of them during his trip to Asia last week, for example.

So far, however, Democrats have remained united in their opposition to the legislation, which they have blasted as a giveaway to the wealthy and corporate America, while busting the budget and raising taxes on some middle-class families. That means Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) will have to find a way to wrangle his oft-fractured conference.

Should the Senate pass its tax bill, the House and Senate will have to hash out their differences in a conference committee and pass a final version through both chambers.

That also could take time since they differ in many ways, including the number of tax brackets for individuals, the timing of corporate tax cuts and which deductions should remain in the tax code.

The Senate bill also does not include a critical olive branch Ryan and Brady provided to lawmakers from high-tax states who oppose getting completely rid of the state and local tax deduction. That deal allows their constituents to continue to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes, and it successfully won over several lawmakers from New York and New Jersey.

It didn't win everyone, however. Of the 13 Republicans who voted against the bill, nine were from the Empire or Garden States — and specifically cited SALT for their "no" votes.

The so-called "SALT fix" also didn't address the issue for many California Republicans, who likewise represent high-tax areas. Property taxes aren't as high in the Golden State, and their constituents grapple more with high income taxes, which were not addressed in the SALT deal.

That's why California Republicans Darrell Issa, Tom McClintock and Dana Rohrabacher all voted against the bill.

“I whipped ‘no,’ and I haven’t changed my mind,” Issa told reporters Wednesday night.

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Issa, who is vulnerable in 2018, called the bill “inherently bad for our constituents” and said that while Republicans say “not a single taxpayer will pay more,” he noted that Democrats argue that 36 million people will indeed see a tax hike.

“The vast majority of the people they’re talking about… are going to be in New York, New Jersey and California,” Issa said. “They’re going to be in states and districts like mine.”

Despite the SALT concerns, Ryan and House GOP leaders were confident throughout the week that they’d have the 218 votes needed for passage, even with unified Democratic opposition. In fact, they’ve felt so good about their whip count they barely called on the White House to twist arms. Trump had no one-on-one meetings scheduled with lawmakers to try to flip GOP opponents into “yes” votes.

“The mood of the members is in a really good place and people are really focused on getting this done… This is why you run for office," Scalise said.

After the whip count Monday night, Scalise’s team broke all the “nos” down into certain categories: those concerned about limits to the state and local tax deduction, or others hung up on soon-to-be axed tax breaks like one to renovate historic buildings. Some were worried about IRS rules that had little to do with the bill. And others wanted tweaks to small businesses tax cuts or to add an Obamacare individual mandate repeal to the bill.

GOP leaders have been telling these members that they’ll have time to alter the legislation in conference committee talks while warning them that if they want to get a tax bill to Trump's desk by Christmas, they need to pass the bill this week.

GOP leaders told those California members that they could potentially win more for them in conference with the Senate.

Before the vote, a happy Trump spent time with GOP lawmakers praising and joking with them behind closed doors in the Capitol.

Trump riffed in typical Trump fashion, mentioning tax cuts as part of a larger monologue on the success of his recent trip to Asia, as well as how he got Chinese officials to release three UCLA basketball players arrested for shoplifting.

“This is the biggest tax cut in the history of our country," Trump said of the bill. "Let’s go do this.”

Trump praised Ryan, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) and especially Brady. Trump even said that he might have "a new Kevin," a joke about House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who the president has referred to as "my Kevin."

"Kevin Brady is a fine guy," Trump added. "I can't say that about everyone in here. Only 30 or 40 percent of you in this room are fine people."

"He talked about the prospects for the tax bill, what it was going to do for the country, especially the corporate rate, what that's going to do for the country. Bringing companies back to America," said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.). "He urged us to go vote for the bill, and then go home and talk about it."

“He said, ‘We stand at the precipice of doing something great’ and that he wants us to continuing pressing the Senate to get this done,” added Rep. Bill Flores (R-Texas).

Nancy Cook and Josh Dawsey contributed to this report.