[Update 1] Due to three provisions Democrats say were violated in the Republican's bill, the House will be forced to vote again Wednesday after the provisions are removed.
Republicans in the House of Representatives officially passed sweeping tax reform, hinging the party’s hopes for reform on a final Senate vote.
With 191 Democrats voting against the bill and two not voting, House Republicans could only afford to lose 23 votes. 12 Republicans voted against the bill, including Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., Rep. Walter Jones, R-N.C., Rep. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J., Rep. Christopher Smith, R-N.J., Rep. Leonard Lance, R-N.J., Rep. Rodney Frelinghuysen, R-N.J., Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., Rep. Dan Donovan, R-N.Y., Rep. John Faso, R-N.Y., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y. But 227 voted for it, passing it through.
Now, the final decision on tax reform rests with the Senate, which is expected to pass the bill later today. Republicans say they expect Congress to pass the tax code overhaul from a bill into law this week.
Just before passing the bill, House Democrats made one final attempt to slow the bill’s passage by voting on a motion to recommit conference report with instructions. As expected, this motion failed as Democrats voting for it and Republicans voted against it.
Friday evening, the Republican committee assigned to negotiate the bill, which strikes several compromises between the previous House and Senate legislations, including a compromise on the mortgage interest deduction, passed it to through the committee and sent it to the House and Senate for a final vote.
Earlier this month, the Senate passed a bill to completely overhaul the current tax system. The House passed its tax reform bill back in the middle of November. The two legislative bodies then created a committee to come to an agreement about which tax bill to send to the president's desk.
While the House tax bill cut the mortgage interest deduction in half, bringing it from $1 million to $500,000, the Senate version left the MID intact. In the newly passed bill, the mortgage interest deduction is cut to $750,000.
