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- The House passed its version of the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Thursday.
- The bill passed, despite objections from some Republican members.
- Passage of the bill is another step toward the Republican overhaul of the tax code, but there is still work to be done.
House Republicans took a huge step forward on their plan to overhaul the federal tax code Thursday with the passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
The TCJA passed fairly easily along a mostly party-line vote, 227 to 205, with two Democrats not voting. Thirteen Republicans voted against the bill. In passing the bill, House Speaker Paul Ryan and Republican leadership answered early questions about whether they could garner enough votes for the plan. Intraparty backlash came exclusively from Republican members in New York, California, and New Jersey. Residents of these states are heavy users of the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which allows people to subtract state and local taxes from their federal tax bill. The deduction was proposed to be repealed in total in the first version of the bill, but leaders were able to come up with a compromise on the measure. In the current House TCJA, the SALT deduction would be repealed for income and sales taxes, but most people would still be able to deduct up to $10,000 in property taxes. For many members in those states with high taxes, the compromise was not enough. Rep. Dan Donovan of New York, who voted "no" on the bill, said he would support the final bill "if the SALT deduction gets put back in." Donovan also said discussions between skeptical members and leadership on the SALT deduction are ongoing and that the provision could change when the bill comes back to the House. "I think that what we're going to vote on today is not going to be the final bill that's going to go to the president's desk," Donovan told Business Insider before the vote. "I think that there's still going to be negotiations. I think there might be people today voting 'yes' that would like to see the SALT deduction retained and hoping that's done when they go to conference with the Senate." Other members from those states still decided to support the TCJA given the compromise and the bill's broader effects. Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey, who was initially skeptical of the bill, said proposed changes to things like the standard deduction were enough to win him over despite the significant SALT deduction repeal. "This is not only good for the families and businesses in my state, but it's also good for the country and I think it is important to support it for that reason," MacArthur told Business Insider on Thursday. The advancement of the massive bill is happening at breakneck speed, but the House bill's passage is just another in a series of steps for the TCJA. The House bill was first introduced just two weeks ago and cleared the House Ways and Means Committee last week. The Senate is currently marking up its version of the bill in the Finance Committee and there already appear to be issues in that chamber. If the Senate is able to pass their own version of a bill, House and Senate members would have to come together on a conference committee to agree on a compromise bill. That compromise bill would then need to be approved by both chambers before heading to President Donald Trump's desk. SEE ALSO: The Senate tax bill could lead to tax increases on people making $75,000 or less — while the wealthy get a tax cut | 
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