US Senate passes historic tax reform

WASHINGTON — US Senate Republicans narrowly passed landmark tax reform early yesterday, a critical step toward delivering a monumental legislative victory for President Donald Trump in his first year in office.

After a marathon session that stretched overnight, the chamber voted 51 to 49 in favor of the nation's largest tax overhaul in 31 years, overcoming stubborn internal Republican resistance and dismissing Democrats angry over the last-minute revisions to the bill.

The Senate version and one passed recently by the House of Representatives must now be reconciled into a single bill, and approved again by both chambers, before it can be signed into law.

Both versions dramatically lower the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 20 percent, and include more modest tax cuts aimed at individuals across all income levels.

The Senate vote amounts to a reversal of fortune for Trump and Republican leaders, whose bill just 24 hours earlier was on the brink of collapse when a handful of Republican deficit hawks balked at the controversial plan's $1.5 trillion price tag for 10 years.

After extensive negotiations, the bill was salvaged. Tax writers tweaked the 479-page measure deep into the night, leaving Democrats furious over the last-minute, handwritten changes to the legislation.