Senate rules force Republicans to go with lengthy name for tax plan
The Republican tax plan will not only have to face a second vote in the House of Representatives, it also will have to ditch a short name for the measure and stick with a lengthy title.
Posted — UpdatedThe House on Tuesday afternoon passed the tax bill with the short name "The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act," which is how Republican leaders have branded their plan since releasing it this fall.
But a senior Democratic aide said the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision of the bill with the short name violated an arcane Senate guideline known as the "Byrd rule," because changing the title from its original long name did not have a budgetary impact. The Senate bill must be Byrd-rule compliant in order to allow such legislation to be passed in the chamber with a simple majority.
The bill is still expected to pass Congress, albeit after another vote and this time stuck with the unwieldy name "To provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018."
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont touted the tax bill's hiccup later Tuesday, with his Twitter account sending out a poll slamming the bill.
Copyright 2024 by Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.
