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UPDATE
The Senate is about to vote on a tax bill it's still writing
CNN
9 mins ago
We're not exactly sure about everything it would do yet. Why? Because we haven't read the tax reform bill.
Nobody has. Even the lawmakers who are about to vote on it. It's still being written.
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10:11 p.m.
Senate Republicans defeated a push by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to delay consideration of the GOP tax bill until Monday.
Senators voted 48-52 on the motion to adjourn, falling short of the simple majority needed to stall the legislation.
Democrats are blasting Republicans arguing they are trying to rush the legislation through the Senate without giving lawmakers a chance to read it.
"Because the bill was given to lobbyists to read and change before senators saw it, and because the bill was given to us on a few hours' notice and has not been read fully or considered fully by a single senator, I move we adjourn until Monday so we can first read and then clean up this awful piece of legislation," Schumer said.
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11:10 p.m.
A closely watched amendment from Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) to expand the child tax credit was defeated, after receiving criticism both from other Republicans and Democrats.
The amendment would make the child tax credit refundable to payroll taxes, and would pay for doing so by raising the bill's corporate tax rate from 20 percent to 20.94 percent.
Rubio and Lee have been pushing for a more robust child tax credit for years, and their efforts have been supported by first daughter and White House adviser Ivanka Trump.
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Major nonprofit opposes tax bill
12:45 a.m.
United Way Worldwide, the world's largest privately-funded nonprofit, came out against the Senate's tax bill, arguing it wouldn't provide much benefit low-income families and would hurt charities.
“On behalf of those who will be impacted in nearly every community we serve, I am deeply troubled by many aspects of the tax reform bill the Senate is now considering,” said United Way Worldwide President and CEO Brian Gallagher. “Congress is gambling with the lives of millions of people who rely on charitable and government social services by increasing the federal deficit to fund tax cuts."
He added that, "the elimination of the charitable deduction for 31 million middle and upper-middle income taxpayers causes such damage to our ability to help people, we have no choice but to oppose the bill.”
Because the bill increases the standard deduction, fewer people would take the itemized deduction for charitable contributions. The nonprofit sector has argued that this change would lead to a decline in charitable giving.
Charities had pushed for people to be able to deduct their donations regardless of whether they itemize. While some GOP lawmakers took up their cause, a universal charitable deduction was not included in the bill.
CBO: Tax bill increases deficit by $1.4 trillion
12:22 a.m.
The Senate GOP tax plan will increase the deficit by more than $1.4 trillion over a decade, according to a new analysis by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The CBO score was released as senators were already voting on amendments to the legislation and were expected to pass the bill in the early morning hours of Saturday.
The legislation, according to CBO, would have the largest deficits between the 2019 fiscal year and the 2022 fiscal year.
Pence breaks tie on 529 plan amendment
12:12 a.m.
Vice President Pence cast a tie-breaking vote to pass an amendment from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to allow taxpayers to use funds from 529 plans for K-12 education, including home schooling.
A similar provision was also included in the House-passed bill. But Democrats expressed concerns that the measure could hurt public education.
GOP Sens. Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) joined with Democrats in voting against the amendment.
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The amended language allows illegal immigrants to continue claiming the credit, which would be doubled to $2,000 per child, for their U.S. citizen children.
GOP Tax Reform Still Lets Illegal Aliens Receive Child Credit Subsidy