Senate Republicans passed their tax bill in the early hours of Saturday morning and now Republicans across the Capitol are bracing themselves for their next challenge: conference.
The House of Representatives formally voted 222-192 Monday night to go to conference committee on the tax bill, where they will work to iron out key differences between their bill and the Senate’s. The House is also expected Monday evening to appoint conferees, the select lawmakers who will be tasked with trying to deliver the reconciled tax bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before Christmas.
But there was some unexpected drama to what was a routine vote. The vote was tied for a period as some Republicans made a show of their displeasure with plans to implement a two-week continuing resolution to fund the government beyond the current deadline scheduled for Friday.
Republicans have a big job ahead of them as major differences remain between the Senate and House tax bills. For one, the Senate bill repeals the individual mandate, which requires individuals to buy health insurance or face a fine. The House bill did not repeal it. The Senate bill also kept intact the alternative minimum tax, which the House repealed. The Senate also sunset tax cuts for individuals, something the House bill kept permanent.
The broad contours of the two bills remain the same, but the regional differences that complicated the tax bill as it moved through the House and Senate are also likely to pop up again in conference. For example, northeast and California Republicans have advocated to restore more state and local tax deductions than are currently in the two chambers’ bills. And Republicans in both the House and Senate have argued that larger tax breaks should be given to so-called pass through businesses.
Most of the work of the conference committee will happen in private negotiations between leadership and committee staff as they tackle one of the most challenging aspects of the negotiations: ensuring that the bill meets special Senate rules. Under reconciliation — the process that gives Republicans the ability to pass their bill with just 51 votes in the Senate — Republicans cannot produce a bill that adds to the deficit after 10 years.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will also appoint conferees. The Senate is expected to vote to go to conference later this week.
This story has been updated and will continue to update with additional developments.
