Senate Passes Budget Proposal Primarily on Party Lines
October 19 2017 - 10:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Natalie Andrews, Kristina Peterson and Richard Rubin
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans adopted a budget for the next
fiscal year, clearing a critical hurdle in the GOP push to overhaul
the tax code.
The Senate's late Thursday passage of the budget blueprint, in a
51-49 vote primarily along party lines, helps unlock a procedure
that Republicans plan to use to rewrite the tax code with just GOP
votes.
"Passing this budget is critical to getting tax reform done, so
we can strengthen our economy after years of stagnation under the
previous administration," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R., Ky.) said on the Senate floor Thursday.
Budget resolutions are nonbinding and don't require the
president's signature. They generally reflect the parties'
priorities and are separate from the spending bills that actually
fund the government.
"The only thing about this that matters is preparation for tax
reform," Sen. Bob Corker (R., Tenn.), a member of the Senate Budget
Committee.
The bill's passage capped a series of amendment votes Democrats
used to drive home their argument that the GOP tax rewrite would
benefit the country's wealthiest citizens at the expense of the
middle class.
"Looking at the GOP tax plan, the American people have to
wonder: is now the time to tilt the scales even further in favor of
big corporations and the very rich?" Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer (D., N.Y.) said on the Senate floor Thursday.
The Republicans released a framework last month that sketched
out a range of tax changes -- including lower taxes on corporate
profits, incentives for businesses, fewer and lower individual
income tax brackets and the end of estate taxes -- with the goal of
simplifying the code and boosting the economy.
The House passed its own budget earlier this year. White House
aides and some Senate Republicans have been urging the House to
simply take up the Senate budget and pass it. An amendment passed
late Thursday allows the House to take up the Senate-passed bill
version and avoids the need for a conference.
The Republicans have yet to release tax legislation. Sen. Orrin
Hatch (R., Utah), chairman of the Finance Committee, said he hoped
to release his tax plan by early November.
"Deficits matter, and the taxes that we address ought to be
about growing the economy that actually create more revenues toward
reducing the deficit," said Sen. Jerry Moran (R., Kan.).
The Democrats criticized the plan as a giveaway to the rich
because a number of proposed changes, including lower business tax
rates and a repeal of the estate tax, would benefit the top sliver
of wealthy households. Before the budget passed, Senate Democrats
proposed several amendments, most of which failed.
Sens. Maria Cantwell of Washington and Chris Van Hollen of
Maryland forced a vote on whether to bar a tax rewrite from ending
or limiting the federal deduction for state and local taxes. House
Republicans are considering abolishing the popular deduction but
may preserve part of it. The Senate blocked the amendment Thursday
on a procedural motion in a party-line vote.
An amendment by New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich
to provide resources in rural communities to offset property-tax
revenue lost due to the presence of tax-exempt federal lands passed
with 58 votes.
The Senate also rejected, by a 7-93 vote, an amendment from Sen.
Rand Paul (R., Ky.) that would have replaced the $1.5 trillion tax
cut with a $2.5 trillion cut. Sen. Paul later voted against the
budget.
The Senate voted down an amendment that would have prevented a
future fast-track vote on Arctic drilling. On the 48-52 vote, Sen.
Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) voted with the Republicans; Sen. Susan
Collins (R., Maine), voted with the Democrats.
Given the Republicans' 52-48 Senate majority, the absence early
this week of Sen. Thad Cochran (R., Miss.) created some questions
over whether Senate GOP leaders would have enough support to pass
the budget. But Mr. Cochran, who had been recovering from health
issues in Mississippi, returned to the Senate on Wednesday.
"We've got the walking wounded all coming back to vote," Sen.
Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.) said.
Mr. Graham acknowledged that passing sweeping tax legislation
would be more challenging than approving a budget. "We're at the
bottom of the mountain and we've got to keep climbing to the top,"
he said.
Write to Natalie Andrews at Natalie.Andrews@wsj.com, Kristina
Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and Richard Rubin at
richard.rubin@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2017 21:55 ET (01:55 GMT)
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