House Republicans advance tax plan after pulling all-nighter, but deep divisions remain

GOP lawmakers on the House tax-writing committee advanced a key portion of President Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill early Wednesday after an all-night debate — but still face an uphill battle before the extension of the 2017 tax cuts becomes law.In a 26-19 party-line vote, the House Ways and Means Committee cleared the tax measure, sending it to the House Budget Committee, where it will be combined with other components of the “big, beautiful” bill that are going through various committees.“Thanks for playing,” committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) wrote on X following the markup hearing, which lasted approximately 17 hours after getting underway at 2:30 Tuesday afternoon.Republicans spent much of that time fighting off a series of amendments from Democrats, including proposals to eliminate Trump’s tariffs and raise the state and local tax deduction (SALT) cap to $80,000.With Republicans holding a 220-213 House majority, they can only afford three defections to pass party-line legislation.The biggest hurdle to GOP harmony is the proposed SALT deduction cap, which a group of New York Republicans has rejected as “insulting.” The 2017 Trump tax bill narrowed the cap to $10,000 a year, and blue state lawmakers have aggressively lobbied to increase it ever since.House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has remained optimistic that Republicans will be able to resolve the SALT dilemma.

Fiscal hawks have also raised concerns about the total impact the “big, beautiful” bill could have on the federal deficit.The tax plan that cleared Ways and Means early Wednesday would cut rates to the tune of $3.6 billion for the bottom 20% of American income earners, $24.4 billion to the quintile above that, $49.6 billion to the middle fifth, $106.3 billion to the second-highest 20% of earners and $384.6 billion to the top 20%, according to an analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation.Republicans have underscored that keeping the 2017 tax law’s lower rates on busi...