House Approves Final GOP Tax Bill; Trump Expected To Sign

WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. House of Representatives approved the GOP tax bill once again Wednesday, the last step in Congress for the legislation before it heads to the President Trump's desk. The bill is projected to add at least $1 trillion to the deficit while cutting taxes on corporations, families and individuals.

The final bill passed with only Republican votes 224-201. No Democrats supported the bill, and 12 Republicans opposed.

"Today, Congress approved a once-in-a-generation tax reform bill," said Speaker Paul Ryan on Twitter after the vote. "Now, this historic legislation will be sent to the president’s desk so Americans can start 2018 with a new tax code."

Republicans had hoped to pass the bill through Congress Tuesday but ran into a snag when the Senate parliamentarian said three relatively minor provisions could let the Democratic Senators indefinitely filibuster the bill. Senate Republicans, in response, made a few technical changes to the bill, which the House will now have to approve.

In remarks before the vote, Trump said boast about the bill's repeal of the the Obamacare individual mandate.

"When the individual mandate is being repealed that means Obamacare is being repealed," he said. We have essentially repealed Obamacare and we will come up with something much better.” However, this statement was misleading, because the law known as Obamacare included wide-ranging taxes, subsidies, regulations and expansion of Medicaid that are far bigger than the mandate itself. Nevertheless, the repeal of the mandate could have a substantial impact on the health insurance market.

The House passed the bill 227 to 203 on Tuesday, largely on party lines.

The White House has scheduled a tax bill event to celebrate passage of the legislation at about 3 p.m. Wednesday.

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