Developments on Day 280 of the Trump Administration:

House Narrowly Approves Blueprint with $1.5 Trillion Tax Cut

With Donald Trump and the GOP seeking their first major legislation since January, a budget blueprint with a $1.5 trillion tax cut narrowly clears a House of Representatives vote.

The proposed tax recoding was adopted 216-212 — a sharp decrease of the GOP’s 45-seat majority in the House — amid concerns that most of the benefits go to the wealthy, that the measure will add significantly to the Federal Government’s deficit, that state and local tax deductions will be removed, and retirement contributions will be limited.

But GOP leaders in the Senate immediately set the ambitious target of both chambers adopting the cuts by the end of November, as Kevin Brady of Texas, the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said the committee would introduce a bill on November 1 and begin amending it on November 6.

Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the Deputy Majority Leader, said the Senate would follow about a week later:

The timetable means pushing through a 1,000-page piece of legislation in less than three weeks, before the Thanksgiving recess, with key issues such as income lines for tax brackets, the top rate of personal income tax, and taxation of multinational corporations still unresolved.

GOP legislators must also figure out a way to offset the loss in tax revenue to stay within the rules of the Senate budget reconciliation process, which allows them to bypass a Democratic filibuster.

The plan cuts the corporate income tax rate from 35% to 20%; reduces individual income tax brackets from seven to three or four — 12%, 25%, 35%, and possibly one higher; and almost doubles the standard deduction, to $12,000 for individuals and to $24,000 for married couples filing jointly.

The proposals could add $1.5 trillion to federal deficits over a decade, at a time when the federal government’s debt has topped $20 trillion and is rising at a faster rate: the deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30 was $666 billion, an increase of $80 billion from the previous year.

Donald Trump responded simply, and inaccurately, to the House vote: