“I think it’s important we make that tax relief permanent for middle-class families and Main Street America,” said Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady. | J. Scott Applewhite/AP photo taxes House votes to make individual tax cuts permanent

The House on Friday passed a bill to permanently extend tax cuts for individuals and unincorporated businesses included in the recent GOP tax overhaul, even though not much more is expected of the measure legislatively.

The Senate has no plans to take it up. But backers in the House, who are exiting Washington for an extended recess of some six weeks before November’s midterm election, believe it will deliver for them politically. Polls show scant public support overall for the GOP tax cuts that took effect Jan. 1. But Republican voters overwhelmingly favor them, the polls also show.


“I think it’s important we make that tax relief permanent for middle-class families and Main Street America,” said Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas).

The lower tax rates are generally set to expire at the end of 2025 because of budget constraints tied to the process Republicans used to pass last year’s more sweeping tax overhaul. Some other provisions expire even sooner under the new law, which permanently slashed the corporate tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent.

The fact that the corporate cut was permanent while the cuts for individuals were temporary was a major attack line by Democrats during last year's debate over the tax overhaul, which passed with zero Democratic support.

The follow-on bill for individual permanence includes cementing a 20-percent deduction on income from non-corporate businesses called pass-throughs. It passed 220-191, largely along party lines.

Three Democrats voted in favor: Reps. Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, who is running in a newly configured district; Jacky Rosen of Nevada, who is running for the Senate against incumbent Republican Dean Heller; and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who is locked in a tight race for the Senate seat of retiring Republican Jeff Flake.

A handful of GOP members from high-tax states such as New York and New Jersey voted against the bill, in opposition to the $10,000 limit on federal deductions for state and local taxes. That cap would be made permanent under the bill, forcing two of Brady’s Ways and Means colleagues with high-tax constituencies, Reps. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.), to cast difficult votes in favor of the legislation. Both are running for reelection in competitive districts.

The House bill has hardly galvanized Senate Republicans.

Don’t expect any hearings or markups, said Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), a Senate Finance Committee member.

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“With the time we have, that’s not going to be considered,” Roberts said. “I’m not sure of any legislation you can pass that the next Congress can’t change.”

There also remains the question of whether Republicans even have the votes for passage, said Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), who also sits on the Finance panel. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has set a 60-vote threshold for considering permanency legislation, which would require Democratic support.

On Thursday the House passed two other tax-related bills — to provide more generous tax breaks for start-up businesses and to motivate individual savings and boost retirement account incentives -- largely with Republican votes, though some Democrats joined them.

Together with the permanency bill, Brady and other GOP supporters labeled the three-bill package "Tax Reform 2.0."

Business backers have acknowledged that the permanent extensions aren’t going to advance anytime soon, but believe that House passage nonetheless represents an important step forward that perhaps sets up Senate consideration after November’s midterm elections. At the very least, it lays down a marker.

“We’ve always looked at it as part of a longer game,” said Brad Close, senior vice president of public policy and advocacy for the National Federation of Independent Business, which represents non-corporate businesses. “Let’s see where the lame duck goes. I think a lot of it depends on how the election goes.”