After nearly a year without a major legislative victory, despite controlling the White House and both houses of Congress, congressional Republicans are just a few minor changes away from chalking one up in the ‘W’ column.
The $1.5 trillion tax reform bill passed the Senate in the early hours Wednesday morning by a 51-48 vote along party lines, sending it back to House leaders for a vote today. There were three provisions in the Senate’s version to which the Houses still had to agree, as the House and Senate must send identical legislation to the president’s desk before he can sign it. The House passed the second version just after 1 p.m. EST, sending it to President Trump’s desk for a signature.
What are the political implications in the short and long term for the bill’s passage? How are leaders in both parties responding?
For more on how Californians voted, check out this story from KPCC’s Mary Plummer.
Guests:
Damian Paletta, White House economic policy reporter for The Washington Post; he tweets
Sean T. Walsh, Republican political analyst and partner at Wilson Walsh Consulting in San Francisco; he is a former adviser to California Governors Pete Wilson and Arnold Schwarzenegger and a former White House staffer for Presidents Reagan and H.W. Bush
Caroline Heldman, associate professor of politics at Occidental College and author of “Protest Politics in the Marketplace: Consumer Activism in the Corporate Age” (Cornell University Press, 2017); she tweets