President Donald Trump stood Wednesday on the brink of his first major legislative victory, with US lawmakers expected to give final approval to a sweeping tax cut plan.
The Senate passed the bill in the wee hours and the House -- which already approved it once on Tuesday -- was scheduled for a re-do vote on the $1.5 trillion, deficit-swelling plan. The second vote was prompted by a procedural snag.
The deepest rewrite of the US tax code in three decades provides dramatic tax breaks to corporations, and families at all incomes levels will see their income tax drop starting next year.
It has been criticized as favoring wealthy people over the middle class. A new CNN poll said 55 percent of Americans oppose the tax reform while 33 percent back it.
House Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday morning many Americans have a rich-over-poor misconception about the plan because of what they hear from the media and the Democrats.
"The average tax payer in every income group is getting a tax cut," Ryan told ABC News. "I think minds are going to change and I think people are going to change their view on this."
The Republican legislation passed the Senate along strict party lines, 51 votes to 48, with all Democrats united in opposition.
The vote had appeared destined to a dramatic showdown, especially with Senator John McCain's absence due to cancer treatment, meaning Republicans could afford only one defector.
Vice President Mike Pence presided over the chamber in the event he need to break a tie.
But with Senators Marco Rubio and Bob Corker backing off their threats to oppose the bill, it ultimately carried through, and Pence pronounced to loud cheers, "the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is passed."
In the House, 12 Republicans had joined all Democrats in opposition as the bill passed 227 to 203.
"Today we are giving the people of this country their money back," said Ryan, who forcefully banged the gavel down as he proclaimed victory.
If as expected the House signs off on the changes, Trump will gather members of both chambers at the White House at 3 pm (2000 GMT) for a celebratory "bill passage event," according to press secretary Sarah Sanders.
- CRUCIAL WIN -
Senate Democrats said they demanded that three provisions in the bill -- including one allowing the use of savings accounts for home-schooling expenses -- be stripped out because they violate the Senate's so-called Byrd Rule, guidelines on the kinds of legislation that can pass the Senate with just a simple majority.
Democrats seized on the hiccup as proof that Republicans were rushing to jam the tax cuts through Congress without enough study.
Republican leaders unveiled their final version of the bill only late last week, and Trump has demanded it reach his desk by Christmas.
Should the bill become law, it would be the Republicans' most important legislative victory in the 11 months since Trump's inauguration.
The Republican plan is projected to add nearly $1.5 trillion to the national debt over the coming decade, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.
That figure drops to about $1 trillion when economic growth is accounted for.
Ryan stated that a median-income family of four earning $73,000 annually would save $2,059 in taxes next year.
- 'MORAL OBSCENITY' -
The Democratic opposition has denounced the measure as mostly benefiting companies and the wealthiest Americans -- including Trump himself -- and warns it risks blowing a hole in the national debt, which has surged past $20 trillion.
Top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi called the bill a "moral obscenity."
Under the legislation, the federal corporate tax rate would fall from 35 percent to 21 percent, and the maximum individual income tax rate, for the nation's wealthiest, would drop from 39.6 percent to 37 percent.
"Every fundraiser, every fat check from a billionaire, and every champagne and caviar party has been about getting to this day, the day when the politicians they put in charge of Washington would pay them back with a $1.5 trillion giveaway," said firebrand liberal Senator Elizabeth Warren.
While Republicans failed earlier this year to repeal and replace Obamacare, the tax plan takes a key step in that regard, by scrapping the individual mandate that requires nearly all Americans to have health insurance or pay a fine.
Republicans brushed aside suggestions that public opposition to the reforms will hurt their party in next year's mid-term elections.
"That's an argument we're more than happy to have" heading into 2018, a clearly elated McConnell told reporters after what many Republicans called the "historic" vote.
"If we can't sell this to the American people we ought to go into another line of work," he added.
