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GOP defeats Schumer bid to delay tax vote

by Jordain Carney - 12/01/17 10:33 PM ET

Senate Republicans defeated a push by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) to delay consideration of the GOP tax bill until Monday.

Senators voted 48-52 on the motion to adjourn, falling short of the simple majority needed to stall the legislation.

The motion was widely expected to fail, as it was similar to several attempts by Democrats this week to send the bill back to committee.

{mosads}”Because the bill was given to lobbyists to read and change before senators saw it, and because the bill was given to us on a few hours’ notice and has not been read fully or considered fully by a single senator, I move we adjourn until Monday so we can first read and then clean up this awful piece of legislation,” Schumer said.

Democrats are blasting Republicans, arguing they are trying to rush the legislation through the Senate without giving lawmakers a chance to read it.

Republicans publicly released the amended version of their plan late Friday night, hours before they are expected to pass the legislation.

The move sparked an outcry from Democratic senators, several of whom tweeted out photos of the updated bill with scribbles and marks through pages, as well as handwritten text in the sidelines of the legislation.

“I was just handed a 479-page tax bill a few hours before the vote. One page literally has hand-scribbled policy changes on it that can’t be read. This is Washington, D.C., at its worst. Montanans deserve so much better,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.).

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) added in a tweet that “Senate Republicans can’t put their own scribbled amendment into the record because nobody can read it. This is what we’re voting on.”

Tags Chuck Schumer Dick Durbin Jon Tester Tax reform