Republicans defeat Democrat plea adjourn tax vote 500 page

Senate Republicans defeated a push by Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer to delay consideration of the sweeping GOP tax bill until Monday. 

As the Senate neared a momentous vote on the sweeping Republican tax bill, Senate Democrats mocked the nearly 500-page printed text of the legislation – complaining it was given to them at the last minute before the vote.

And it had illegible, hand-written notes in the margins, they protested. 

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

‘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.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts tweeted, ‘No, I haven’t had time to read the 500-page #GOPTaxScam bill that we’re voting on tonight,’ with a photo of her reading aloud from pages at her desk. ‘Couldn’t read it if I tried – and I did.’  

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester of Montana said ‘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.’

Republican leaders engaged in eleventh-hour negotiations with GOP holdout senators to meet their demands and secure their support for the bill that’s a political imperative for Trump and the party. They had rounds of closed-door meetings and were drafting the revised bill text up to the time they assembled on the Senate floor in advance of the vote.

The $1.4 trillion bill focuses the bulk of its tax reductions on businesses and higher-earning individuals and gives more modest breaks to others. It would bring the first major overhaul of the U.S. tax system in three decades.

In 2010, Republicans argued that Democrats hadn’t read the massive health care bill before voting for its passage.