Senate Republicans passed their tax overhaul plan along party lines in the wee hours of Saturday morning. The vote was 51-49, with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) the lone dissenting Republican. The bill would slash the corporate tax rate, abolish the estate tax, effectively cut individual rates for high earners, and close or reduce several loopholes and tax breaks. Republican holdouts and deficit hawks came around on the legislation in the final hours before the vote, even after the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation found Thursday that the plan would add $1 trillion to the federal deficit.
The vote marks a significant victory for the GOP, which has struggled this year to pass major legislation. The bill will now need to be reconciled with the House's version, or swallowed whole by the House, before going to President Trump's desk.
Democrats blasted the rushed and opaque process that led to the bill's late-night passage. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) branded it "a process and a product that no one can be proud of and everyone should be ashamed of." Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) called it "a great day for the country."
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