Democrats are seeking a symbolic victory that would force Republicans to strike the GOP’s preferred title for its bill—The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—according to Senator Bernie Sanders’s office.
A provision in the bill that changed its name was found to violate a budget rule that Senate GOP leaders are using to fast-track the tax bill, said Sanders spokesman Josh Miller-Lewis. Sanders, a Vermont independent, is the Democrats’ ranking member on the Budget Committee.
“It has no budgetary impact,” Miller-Lewis said of the bill’s titling provision.
Under Senate rules, Democrats are allowed to challenge measures if they don’t relate to federal revenue or spending—and Sanders said Tuesday that the Senate’s parliamentarian had already ruled in their favor. As a result, the Senate’s vote on the bill late Tuesday night will send it back to the House for a final vote Wednesday.
That would mean Republicans would likely have to get rid of the short title and settle for the measure’s fuller title: “An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to titles II and V of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2018.”
That’s tough to fit on a bumper sticker.
