House barely passes budget

WASHINGTON» House Republicans agreed to $4 trillion budget legislation Thursday morning, narrowly overcoming internal dissension and Democratic opposition to clear a major obstacle in the GOP’s quest to pass largescale tax cuts.

The budget legislation authorizes special procedures that will allow Republicans to reduce federal revenue over the coming decade by as much as $1.5 trillion without Democratic help. Its adoption launches what GOP leaders hope will be several weeks of intense legislating, culminating in House passage before Thanksgiving.

“It shows the strength of the willingness to get tax reform done,” House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said of the 216-212 vote.

No Democrats voted for the budget Thursday, nor did 20 Republicans, indicating ongoing qualms about the tax push within the party.

A key holdout bloc consisted of Republican lawmakers from states with high local tax burdens, who have resisted the GOP’s plan to eliminate or at least scale back the income-tax deduction for state and local taxes. Several members of that group threatened to hold up the budget unless their concerns were addressed.

Twelve Republicans from the

high-tax states of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where many voters stand to be hit hard if the deduction were eliminated, voted against the budget after no deal on it emerged.

Still, House leaders were able to persuade enough of the balking lawmakers to advance the process. A highly anticipated meeting scheduled for Wednesday night between the holdouts and House leaders was canceled shortly before it was set to begin, after party whips appeared to secure enough votes.

Every Republican member of the California and Illinois delegations, whose constituents are also subject to relatively high local taxes, supported the budget, and several New York members waited to cast their no votes until GOP leaders had obtained a majority, indicating that they were unwilling to hold up the tax bill.

McCarthy said he be- lieves several House Republicans who opposed the budget for reasons unrelated to the tax bill ultimately “will be there for tax reform.”

But one leader of the pro-deduction bloc said that despite the budget’s passage, the tax bill itself cannot pass until GOP leaders deal definitively with the issue.

“I know, and they know, that there were people that voted yes only to keep the process going forward but who disagree with the fact that we don’t have a deal yet,” said Rep. Tom MacArthur, R-N.J., who voted against the budget.

Rep. Tom Reed, R-N.Y., a member of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee who has been negotiating a deal on the deduction, said Wednesday he expected an agreement to be reached in the coming week. “Before the rollout of the whole tax legislation and bringing it to the floor, all those I’s and T’s will be dotted and crossed,” Reed said.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., said negotiations will continue through the weekend.