Trump Praises Senate Passage Of GOP Budget Resolution
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork) -- Calling it "great news," President Donald Trump praised a late night Senate passage of a Republican budget resolution that would set the stage for debate later this year to dramatically overhaul the U.S. tax code.
The Senate cast a mostly party line vote to approve the $4 trillion budget Thursday night. The vote was 51 to 49.
"This now allows for the passage of large scale tax cuts and reform, which will be the biggest in the history of our country!" the president said in another tweet.
The budget makes room for a tax reform plan that would add about $1.5 trillion to the federal deficit over 10 years.
It also allows Senate Republicans to pass tax reform without a Democratic filibuster, meaning they need just 51 votes instead of the usual 60.
"We have a once in a lifetime opportunity to replace a failing tax code that holds Americans back with one that actually works for them," said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Democrats say the GOP tax proposal benefits the wealthiest Americans the most.
"Essentially, it green-lights tax breaks for the super wealthy in this country at the expense of everybody else," said Maryland Democratic Sen. Chris Van Hollen.
House Speaker Paul Ryan told "CBS This Morning" that they will introduce a new tax bracket designed to keep the tax cuts from benefiting the top one percent.
"Once we get that budget resolution that tells us how our numbers will work, then we'll introduce the bill which will have that fourth bracket, designed to make sure we don't have a big drop in income tax rates for high income people," he said.
Ryan has said his goal is to get a tax reform bill out of the House in early November, giving the Senate several weeks to consider and pass it before the end of the year.
"The whole point of getting tax reform done, increase people's paychecks, higher wages, faster economic group which gives us a healthier economy and more jobs," Ryan said.
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont said in the Senate Thursday, "This is not a bad budget bill, it is a horrific budget bill."
The House vote could happen as early as next week.
