‘Proof that this GOP tax bill was never about helping the middle class’
On a strictly party-line vote, Senate Republicans today voted down an amendment by U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) that would have made the modest middle-class tax cuts in the GOP’s tax bill permanent, instead of ceasing after just a few years.
“The modest middle-class tax breaks are not permanent, in seven or eight years they cease to exist, they sunset,” Nelson said on the Senate floor prior to the vote on his amendment. “Now, that’s simply not fair. This little amendment simply says, go back to the Finance Committee and correct this inequity. Go back to the Finance Committee, make the middle-class tax cuts permanent.”
If approved, the amendment Nelson filed late Thursday would have required that the Senate suspend its consideration of the current GOP tax bill and send it back to the Senate Finance Committee to work out a bipartisan compromise that provides permanent tax relief for the middle class.
Shortly after Nelson made his remarks, Senate Republicans voted to defeat the amendment by a vote of 52 to 48 – with all 48 Democrats voting for it, and all 52 Republicans voting against.
After the vote, Nelson tweeted, “Senate Republicans just voted down my amendment to make the modest middle-class tax cuts permanent, instead of a tax increase in a few years. Proof that this GOP tax bill was never about helping the middle class.”
