WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on Congress and sweeping tax cut legislation (all times local):
12:05 p.m.
President Donald Trump is celebrating the GOP tax legislation, claiming it fulfills his campaign promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act.
Speaking during a Cabinet meeting, he says: “Obamacare has been repealed in this bill.”
But the bill only repeals the individual mandate, which imposes a tax penalty for failing to purchase health insurance — a significant, but small part of the law — rather than the extensive legislation passed by his predecessor.
Trump-backed GOP efforts to undo the health care legislation failed repeatedly earlier this year, and congressional lawmakers are debating needed fixes to the bill to stabilize the individual marketplace.
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11:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump is promising a news conference Wednesday afternoon after House Republicans take the final vote to approve the GOP tax cut bill.
Speaking before a Cabinet meeting, Trump calls the expected passage a “historic victory for the American people.”
Trump will host Congressional Republicans at the White House to celebrate the first major legislative victory of his administration.
Trump says the official signing ceremony will follow at a later date.
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11:50 a.m.
President Donald Trump is congratulating Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on his work passing the Republican tax bill.
In a tweet Wednesday morning, Trump says McConnell did “a fantastic job both strategically & politically on the passing in the Senate of the MASSIVE TAX CUT & Reform Bill.”
He adds: “I could have not asked for a better or more talented partner. Our team will go onto many more VICTORIES!”
The Senate voted early Wednesday to approve the measure, which cuts corporate and individual taxes. The House is expected to pass the legislation a final time Wednesday, sending it to Trump’s desk for signature.
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9:55 a.m.
President Donald Trump says the “Fake News” media is “working overtime” to “only demean” tax cuts he’s long said will be the biggest in history.
Trump tweeted Wednesday: “The Tax Cuts are so large and so meaningful, and yet the Fake News is working overtime to follow the lead of their friends, the defeated Dems, and only demean. This is truly a case where the results will speak for themselves, starting very soon. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs!”
Democrats have criticized the package as a giveaway to corporations and the rich. Republicans argue it will spur economic growth and create jobs.
The Republican-controlled Senate narrowly passed the bill on a party line 51-48 vote after midnight. The House must vote a second time Wednesday due to procedural issues.
Trump plans a White House event with lawmakers following the House action.
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9:40 a.m.
The White House says President Donald Trump will hold an event with lawmakers after the expected passage of a sweeping rewrite of the nation’s tax laws.
Spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump will take part in a “bill passage event” at the White House with members of the House and Senate at 3 p.m.
Sanders said it would not be a signing event. She said “the bill would still need to be enrolled and that will happen at a later date.”
The president is eager to claim his first major legislative victory. The Senate narrowly passed the legislation on a party-line 51-48 vote after midnight. The House must vote a second time on Wednesday due to procedural issues.
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7:15 a.m.
House Speaker Paul Ryan is acknowledging “nobody knows” if the sweeping tax cuts Congress is enacting will produce enough economic growth to fend off soaring federal deficits.
Making the rounds of morning television news shows, the Wisconsin Republican known as a deficit hawk suggested it’s a risk that Republicans are willing to take. He tells NBC’s “Today” show America hasn’t had a 3 percent annual growth rate since the Great Recession of 2008.
“What we’re trying to do here is give relief to hard-working families,” Ryan says. “We need fast economic growth. We need help for people living paycheck to paycheck.”He says the aim of the $1.5 trillion tax cut is to keep businesses in the United States, saying the relocations overseas “is a trend that has to be reversed.”
Asked about estimates that the tax cut could add $1.46 trillion to the national debt over 10 years, he replied, “Nobody knows the answer to that question.”
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3:50 a.m.
Jubilant Republicans pushed on early Wednesday to the verge of the most sweeping rewrite of the nation’s tax laws in more than three decades, a deeply unpopular bill they insist Americans will learn to love when they see their paychecks in the new year. President Donald Trump cheered the lawmakers on, eager to claim his first major legislative victory.
After midnight, the Senate narrowly passed the legislation on a party-line 51-48 vote. Protesters interrupted with chants of “kill the bill, don’t kill us” and Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly called for order. Upon passage, Republicans cheered, with Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin among them.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., insisted Americans would respond positively to the tax bill.
“If we can’t sell this to the American people, we ought to go into another line of work,” he said.