General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTAX BILL QUESTION
Does anyone know the procedural steps for the bill before its final (and barring a miracle) final passage?
Or can you direct me to someone who would know?
Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Jersey Devil
(9,874 posts)it (the final version) then has to be voted on again by both the House and the Senate. Or, the House could simply agree to the Senate version and then it would go to Trump for signature.
Vidal
(642 posts)The most important thing to know is that there are big differences between the House bill and the Senate bill.
Before Trump can sign a bill into law the House and Senate must pass IDENTICAL bills.
Therefore they have a lot of work to do before that happens.
The steps are as follows:
1. Senate Bill goes to House, and they can accept it as it is and adopt it in the House (a .01% chance) or they can not adopt it as it is and create a Conference Committee.
2. Assuming it goes to the Conference Committee it will take a while for the members of the House and Senate who are on the Committee to come to an agreement.
3. Let me stress: the Conference Committee must create ONE bill that is a compromise that they think will pass both the House and the Senate.
4. When this happens the same identical bill is sent to both the House and the Senate for a floor vote.
THIS IS WHERE THINGS MIGHT FALL APART
There is no guarantee that the Tea Party caucus in the House will agree to the changes that Flake and Collins and Johnson want. Both Flake and Collins could say they won't support the final version IF it doesn't have the changes they were promised. (McConnell made them both promises to get their votes last night.)
5. The House votes and the Senate votes on the Conference Committee bill, and if it passes both houses with a simple majority then it goes to Trump for his signature.
Hope that helps.