Not surprisingly, the Senate the tax cut package today by an overwhelming majority (81-19). And I know what you’re thinking: all of the “No” votes came from the Democrats. Nope. Here’s who voted against the deal:
- Bingaman (D-NM)
- Coburn (R-OK)
- DeMint (R-SC)
- Dorgan (D-ND)
- Ensign (R-NV)
- Feingold (D-WI)
- Gillibrand (D-NY)
- Hagan (D-NC)
- Harkin (D-IA)
- Lautenberg (D-NJ)
- Leahy (D-VT)
- Levin (D-MI)
- Merkley (D-OR)
- Sanders (I-VT)
- Sessions (R-AL)
- Udall (D-CO)
- Udall (D-NM)
- Voinovich (R-OH)
- Wyden (D-OR)
The deal now goes to the House of Representatives where, according to Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), discussions will begin in earnest tomorrow (Thursday). Democrats in the House are expected to pass the bill – but not until they tweak it some more. Specifically, they’re hoping to reduce the estate tax rates and exemptions to those closer to 2009 levels. House Republicans have warned that tinkering with the estate tax may result in a complete collapse of the deal. On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) fired a warning shot, saying:
If the House Democratic leadership decides to make partisan changes, they will ensure that every American taxpayer will see a job-killing tax hike on January 1st.
That should keep things interesting. Check back tomorrow for more information on the House negotiations. For an overview of the Senate version, check out my prior post.
Here’s how this will procede. Right now the House Rules Committee is meeting to send the bill to the floor (a formality). There is a lot of talk about changing the bill in the House – especially changing the estate tax. Won’t happen. House Democrats will have two bills. The first is the Senate bill which will ultimately pass and be signed into law by the president. The second bill will change the estate tax and make a bunch of other changes that make a bunch of Congressment happy. They’ll vote on that. That way Democrats who don’t like the Senate compromise can say they voted for something else. It will fail and then the House will pass the Senate bill and send it to Obama.