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Tax Reform Legislation Cleared for President Trump’s Signature

After facing a number of trials and tribulations as it made its way through the legislative process, Congress did, in fact, approve landmark tax reform legislation on Dec. 20, clearing the measure for President Trump’s signature.

A minor holdup occurred Dec. 19, when the Senate parliamentarian ruled that three provisions in the legislation violated the Senate’s arcane budget rules, forcing the House to reconsider the revised legislation one day after previously approving it. The Dec. 20 House vote on the revised bill was 224-201, with all Democrats and 12 Republicans voting against the measure, similar to the previous day’s 227-203 margin.

In an amusing twist, one of the three changes the Senate was forced to make was dropping the legislation’s title of “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act” and substituting this catchy title: “An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018.” For those of you keeping score at home, that yields this acronym: “AAPRPTIIVCRBFY2018.”

It will take a few days to officially prepare and “enroll” the bill to be signed. White House staff has indicated that President Trump may wait until after the New Year to officially sign it.