WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democratic efforts to secure bigger tax benefits for parents’ costs of raising or adopting children, as they drove toward wrapping up their tax overhaul by week’s end.
The daylong debate by the Ways and Means Committee came as the Senate’s tax bill started to take shape. That version is expected to completely repeal the federal deduction for state and local taxes, a flashpoint of contention for Republican lawmakers from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, as well as Democrats. Concessions were made in the House bill with a partial repeal.
The Senate measure also would retain the medical expense deduction, which the House plan eliminates. And the Senate would retain today’s seven personal income tax brackets, not collapse them into four like the House bill.
Republicans hope to get Democratic support for their politically necessary legislation, and President Donald Trump’s top economic adviser Gary Cohn met with Senate Democrats on Tuesday as Trump phoned in from his Asia trip.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., walks through Statuary Hall to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, Nov. 3, 2017. Ryan introduced a far-reaching tax overhaul Thursday that will be a priority for the GOP. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)Democrats weren’t buying Trump’s argument that the emerging GOP tax bill is “terrible for rich people.” Ohio Democrat Sen. Sherrod Brown said Trump made that claim during the call.