Trump victory must wait a day

Republican leaders in Congress have been left with egg on their faces after the final approval of a key tax measure was delayed by a procedural gaffe - denying US President Donald Trump his first major legislative victory until at least Wednesday.  

The compromise proposal, forged by congressional negotiators from differing versions passed by both chambers in recent weeks, is still expected to pass with minor changes.  

The initial version was approved Tuesday afternoon by the House of Representatives. But the discovery of provisions in the text that violate Senate’s own parliamentary rules forced the upper chamber to strike those sections deemed “extraneous” from the 500-page bill.  

The Senate vote on the latest version was still expected late Tuesday, but the House must now act on the revised text, which lowers the corporate income tax and trims rates for individuals.  

House leaders were now planning a Wednesday vote, which would send the measure to the White House for Trump to sign into law.  

Nancy Pelosi, leader of the left-leaning opposition Democrats in the House, had already condemned the tax measure Tuesday as an “all-out looting of America,” and after the parliamentary bungle she decried it as “shoddily written” and full of “hidden loopholes and giveaways.”  

In Tuesday’s vote, the House passed the legislation 227 to 203. None of the Democratic minority supported it, while 12 members of the conservative Republican majority voted no.  

Trump, who took office in January but has found legislative victories elusive despite Republican majorities in Congress, supports the tax measure. Before the procedural problem in the Senate became public, he tweeted congratulations to the “great House Republicans who voted in favour of cutting your taxes!”  
DPA, 20th DECEMBER, 2017