UPDATE: The House revoted and passed the tax reform bill this morning as predicted in the final paragraph of this news piece. President Trump will sign it, but when he will has not been announced. Stay tuned to us for details.
Soon after midnight this morning, the Senate voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The version of the bill passed by the Senate differs slightly from the House bill, however, so the House will have to vote again this morning to pass the bill as amended.
The Senate vote on the bill was 51–48, split along party lines. Sen. John McCain, R-AZ, was not present due to medical issues.
Changes to the bill were made so that it could conform to the Senate’s Byrd rule, allowing it to pass with only 51 votes. The Senate’s changes involve the removal of an expansion of Sec. 529 accounts that would have allowed distributions to be used for homeschooling expenses and the removal of an exception to the endowment excise tax for colleges with fewer than 500 tuition-paying students. A vote to suspend the Byrd rule and keep those provisions in the bill failed. It needed 60 votes and only got 51.
The House is expected to pass the revised bill this morning. Then, it’s off to President Trump for signature.
