US Senate passes £950bn 11-year tax cut
The US Senate has passed an 11-year, $1.35trn (£950bn) tax cut that reflects President George W Bush’s priorities for tax relief.
Sponsors hoped to reach quick agreement with the House on a final compromise to send to the White House.
The vote was 62-38 to pass the bill, with 12 Democrats joining all 50 Republicans in favour.
Bush, at a White House ceremony, said those 62 Senators "deserve our country’s thanks and praise", and urged Congress to agree on a final package this week.
"Our economy cannot afford any further delays," Bush said.
Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill said the vote showed "strong bipartisan support" for the tax cut and urged Congress to "finish this important work quickly".
"It’s now clear that working Americans are going to receive significant tax relief," O’Neill said in a statement.
Final passage was delayed two days by dozens of unsuccessful amendments that Democratic critics proposed to buttress their argument that it is too costly and favours the wealthy.
It also came on a tumultuous day in the Capitol as Republicans and Democrats gauged the political fallout from the decision by Senator James Jeffords, to become an independent.
The tax cut, the largest since President Ronald Reagan’s in 1981, was hailed by Republicans as a necessary refund of surplus tax payments to deserving taxpayers and a boost to the shaky economy.
Even before the Senate finished the bill, negotiators were discussing ways to bridge differences between the House and Senate in hopes of getting the tax bill to President Bush by the end of the week.
Further complicating the debate was Jeffords’ apparent decision to leave the Republican party. But several senators said they believed a House-Senate conference would finish the tax bill before any shift in Senate balance of power. Each party has 50 seats in the Senate.
Both the House and Senate bills contain the core of Bush’s original 10-year, $1.6trn tax cut: across-the-board income tax reductions, relief from the marriage penalty on many two-income couples, doubling of the $500 child tax credit and gradual repeal of estate tax.
