senator john mccain who is in arizona following treatment cancer, we open the phone lines, (202)748-8920 for democrats. we will hear from the senate republican leader, mitch mcconnell his news conference is taking place not far from where the senate is leading. we'll have that when it happens. the senate passed the bill, it goes back to the house edging closer today, with the house approving that sweeping tax bill the hustle have to vote again tomorrow where the parliamentary rules which do not comply with the republican rules they're

using that for a democratic filibuster. it's good to your phone calls. the reaction to the vote. >> thank you for taking my call. i'm thrilled this is finally taken place. victory for america and for president trump. i think the democrats have been exposed here. this is a great though for the middle class of america. >> this is from dan sullivan from alaska he said just wanted to cut taxes and at long last 1002 area of an war, the drilling as part of the effort by the senate tax bill. this is going to be a bill good

for american workers, good for american families, higher wages and faster growing economy. mark warner says the president will personally benefit, prove it. right now they're saying it's a bill stuck on capitol hill and has to be voted on again. aspects of the bill failed to comply with senate rules. now how a bill becomes a law. of the democrats line, heather's next cicero, new york. >> caller: good morning. the matter what we've done we've contacted our representative here, john is our representati representative, ben on townhouse system, he want to personal town hall no matter what we say or do he has not listen to but we have

said and continues to vote along party lines. >> host: we welcome our listeners on c-span radio. chris is up next. go ahead go ahead and senator mcconnell comes to the podium we'll go to that life. >> i'm extremely sad that the republicans were able to get this through. i am a millennial, i'm pleased on the republican steps up to get it pass. sure most americans were not in favor of it will see how positive it will be. i can forward to new changes. >> host: the vote in the house yesterday on tuesday was along

party lines with 12 republicans voting against it. here now is the senate republican leader. >> after eight strangely years of slow growth and underperformance, america is ready to take off. coupled with regulatory of reforms we now a comprehensive tax reform, major middle-class tax relief, making our businesses more competitive around the world.

i don't want to read too much into a quarterly growth rate. we have had two quarters and a roll of 3% growth. the stock market is up, optimism is high. coupled with tax reform america is ready to start reforming us it should. a large sure the credit goes to every member of the conference. i turnout to her three chairman. >> have to say that this is a historic night. the democrats have said the american people will remember the site. i hope they do. we passed one of the most important tax rakes in history. these folks behind us have continued to make this a

possibility and reality. i'm grateful for my colleagues and those who are willing to stand up and do this for the american people. >> this is a historic night. there was a historic effort. i have never seen so many people work together to look at so many numbers to make sure they come out right as there has been in the sufferer. that's important to the american people. they will notice the difference i will notice it soon. this country will be moving forward again. >> for 31 years, the tax reform 38 years.

thirty-eight years to get to the point where we will be able to say we have an opportunity within the 1002 area of an war to access extraordinary potential, not only for the benefit of our state but the benefit of this country. for national security, and truly for security of our country's economy. . . . . december 2017 as i stand before you we are able to bring relief to american families just across

this nation. in fact we are able to create jobs and increase pay wages and also make sure that our businesses are competitive around the nation. we set out with two goals. one was to deliver directx relief for the hard-working families we all are present and the second is to take what is arguably been the worst business tax code in the world and turn it into one of the best, because the result of that is more investment and more growth, more businesses and expansion, that means more jobs and more opportunities and a higher standard of living for the people we represent. for years democrats and republicans alike have talked about the need for middle-class tax cuts and tonight we delivered on that promise.

reforms were helping small businesses to be successful and how to level the playing field with other countries around the world so workers have the opportunity to compete and win. i'm excited about this because i think it's going to make a difference to the people that represent. >> it's a big day for the american people, and i just -- extraordinary amount of work on behalf of everybody but the message it sends to the world is that america is ready to leave again in the 21st century and like i said, for the american people who are going to get bigger paychecks and when the economy starts taking off and growing at a more normal rate, more wages, better growth, better paying jobs. it's a win-win all the way around, and i think the people of this country are going to start seeing that early on next

year. >> to my mind, this is a referendum on whether we believe the american dream is alive. we don't believe you have to settle for anemic growth, flat wages and fewer jobs in the jobs we do have too many of them are being shipped overseas never to come back. so we were not willing to settle for the status quo because we believe america can do better and thanks to this important piece of legislation, i think all the incentives and the pieces are in place for the american economy to take off from the slumbering giant of the american economy to rise again and lead in the world economically and literally as well

>> a couple of questions and then we will speak at night to everyone. do you believe there is a need to go out and so the bill? >> we've been looking forward to it. if we can't sell it to the american people, we ought to go into another line of work. it's an important impeachment for the country that people will value and appreciate, but it requires continued discussion with the american people and we are all going to be doing that through the year. >> do you feel like you are in the situation that nancy pelosi was in after the affordable care act passed in the democrats said we will take it out o to the public and show them and it took a long time for the public to start coming around many years later after democrats lost.

>> it's easy to solve if you have more money in your pocket and ithan it is to the governmew running the health care system. we believe this will be something the american people will respond to positively. i'm a little surprised democrats all decided to voting against middle-class tax relief and making american businesses more competitive as a smartphone with and that's an argument we are more than happy to ask you to gg into the fall election as well. i will take one more. >> [inaudible] your job is to use the democratic talking pointdemocrai understand that. we believe that this product will do two important things for the country. number one, provide middle-class

tamiddle classtax relief and nu, provide business changes that make us more competitive. with regard to the termination date, let me tell you what terminates this, the democrats taking this to congress next november would turn this into a very short tax bill, so i think focusing on the dates that they expire because of the need to fit the reconciliation rules have missed the point. every single democrat voted for this. they are committed to repealing and raising taxes and that is what is at stake in the fall of 2018. thanks a lot, everyone.

>> [inaudible conversations] the senate republican leader and senator cornyn of texas, senator thune and other members of the republican congress leaving the news conference following the vote that took place on the floor of the senate. the final vote was 51-48. again, senator john again is not in washington and the vice president president of the senate presiding over the proceedings and we are getting your feedback as well. this is from fox news channel. with five waves of protesters interrupting the senate tax vote, one protester jeff flake have you no decency, have you no shame? if you watched, you heard the demonstrations and again the camera scheduled by the u.s. senate so we were not able to show exactly what was happening, but you clearly could see what was happening. from a number of senators that completed the vote, from senator

jeff merkley, unbelievable. the gop pulled off the biggest bank heist in history and bigger delivering $1 trillion out of the national treasury to the wealthiest americans and big corporations. we must fight back harder than ever for we the people of our democracy. this from iowa senator chuck grassley. i'm one of only five to be involved with tax reform. as a senator in 1986 and again in 2017. it shouldn't have taken so long, but he delivered tax cuts and simplification to the american people as promised. and from house speaker paul ryan, great news to senate just passed tax cuts and jobs act after years of work we are going to enact the most sweeping progress overhaul of our tax code in a generation. and finally, from pennsylvania senator bob casey, i will not stand as republican republicanst washington'republicans inwashinn washington thought that these vital programs for the middle-class especially after they passed into law a use tax x giveaways for big corporations and the superrich.

tell us what you think about the tax bill that now goes back to the house one more time for a procedural reason and then onto the president's desk. surely on the independence line from jacksonville, florida. good morning. >> caller: good morning. thank you for having me. all i can say is that this bill is taxation without representation. i am a little income person. i will be hit by this bad because of social security and medicare. trump promised us he would touch any social security or medicare or medicaid, but that's what's going to happen next. they are going to have to take from us to subsidize the tax cuts for the rich and infamous. i can't stand it. if senators found out the

healthcare of theihealthcare ofr states for things like property rights, i can't understand it. i don't understand what's happening to the republican party. it's like it's party over country all the way. all this year. i can't stand it. >> host: shirley from jacksonville. the next action the senate needs to take up as the spending bill that is continuing resolution. the deadline is friday december 22. remember that was a two-week extension initially december 8. it will be covering the proceedings on that tomorrow and into thursday. hoping to get out of here for the christmas holiday. denise joining us in las vegas, nevada on the democrats line. >> caller: [inaudible]

>> caller: first, thank you for taking my call. in my opinion, all the republicans should be ashamed of themselves for what they have done to play puppet to their king. apprentice trump with a love letter to you to g have -- lower-level tea and capital ru rump. they are not going to hire more people. companies stated that right there on tv that they are not going to do it. i don't know how they think they are going to raise wages. our president promised $4,000 a year more for people and that isn't true. none of it is true. it's amazing that these people actually thought of something to make the rich richer and take from the others. if a permanent tax cut for the rich and screwing the average person out of money. what i thought is they think a

single working mother makes $41,000 a year. the average family earns 70,000. isn't that what they said? >> 75,000. >> in normal life and in the real world just because they can vote for their wages and races, which they do all the time behind doors and nobody really knows. it is a great just what they followed and just try to give the king what they needed to win this year because we are all going to go out and vote. everybody needs to do it to get rid of these people that don't care about the public with their families or any kid that are sick and take all the benefits away from them just to give it to the rich. we have infrastructure that needs help picking the president says we are a threat away from a war and i think it will happen because he wants to play with his toys. i couldn't take it when i heard him say he could walk down fifth avenue and shoot someone and we would still vote for him and the people that did, stupid voters,

they are so stupid they didn't realize they were being insulted. and i'm sorry to say all this on national tv but that's what i believe. >> host: thinks protocol. from senator chris murphy, democrat of connecticut. quote, the bill that just passed the senate in the house is in tax reform, it is a giant handout for the rich and powerful. there's no shame left in washington. the biggest piece of legislation passed by the republican congress is literally a windfall for their wealthy donors. and there's this from senator tom barrasso. it came out just a short while ago and will pop up in a moment. we will hear from john in zionsville indiana. go ahead. this is from senator barrasso. the best way for washington to give americans the most value for their money is to keep it at home. the tax reform bill doe does tht while making american businesses more competitive and unleashing the full potential of our economy. go ahead, please come the republican line from indiana.

>> caller: thank you for having me. you know, i think people especially the democrats this is a tax cut any jobs act bill. we are talking about two different things. things. middle class will get their tax cuts. ted cruz, senators, other republicans were very clear how they will receive tax cuts. then there's jobs act. if we focus on tax cuts and not know who are those that are going to create the jobs those are the rich. unfortunately, we are not taking a money. i'd like to know how people think we are taking money from the middle-class. that isn't what's going on here. we are going to address the middle-class, fixed that problem and then we have to address the jobs. democrats don't have their priorities straight. the only focus on pointing fingers at making this about the rich. with the middle-class are going

to do is look at the january peace out in 2018. >> host: thanks for the call. we are told the impact will be in february when the irs is able to figure all the changes to the tax law and the president will be signing the bill. in fact he said the short while ago, the following of the united states senate has just passed the biggest in history tax cut reform bill, terrible individual mandate. obamacare is repealed coast of the house tomorrow morning for a final vote if approved there will be a news conference at the white house at approximately 1 p.m.. and of course we will have that here on the c-span networks. senator orrin hatch who is chair of the senate financ senate fine one of the architects in the senate had this. my democratic colleagues have said that america will remember this night. i hope they do. let's go to murray joining us in new jersey. good morning. as we approach well past the 1:00 hour in the east.

go ahead. you are on the air. >> caller: the republicans have made a .1 after another that this is a historical bill. it is historic because it perpetrates the greatest fraud of the american people and the idea that this is going to put more money in people's pockets and create jobs is a fraudulent idea. it will never happen. you can stay around for the next number of years and you won't see it happen, but that's all the republicans cared about. they cared about making the donors richer. that's what this bill is all about, satisfying the donors and

the american people have to suffer for it and i can only hope that in a year from now ind midterm elections that people will be so outraged when they see what the bill doesn't do they will vote the democrats into power in both of the senate and the house and then the democrats can reverse this move that the republicans made tonight. >> host: the vote on the house, 227203. of the vote was 51-48 and again the vice president was on hand and wasn't needed because with john mccain not in washington it wasn't possible to be a tied vote for the course of a single republican in the senate supported the bill including senator bob corker who initially voted against the bill database

from josh who's been following all this quoting the senate republican leader in the conference wil with a cover of a short while ago if we can't solvsellthis to the american pet ought to go into another line of work. meanwhile, kirsten gillibrand in 2018 i hope you will channel your anger and energy to those who do to put their donors before hard-working middle-class families. from "the wall street journal" devotethe vote in the senate tot 51 to 48. the senate will be convening in about seven hours and actually the house is convening a seven hours and 45 minutes. the senate will be 11:00 eastern. we will have the senate on c-span2 and the house on c-span. damn from st. peter's misery on the republican line, go ahead please. >> caller: thank you for taking my call. i am 66-years-old, retired, disabled vietnam veteran and

plain tired. if everything works out the way that it's described, the standard deduction would take away my tax liability and i will pay no taxes, so being retired that helps me out a lot, so definitely in favor of it. i've been watching and was discussing with the democrats and independents all day. it's going to make my life entirely better so thank you for taking my call. >> host: thank you and thank you for your service as well. o-oscar from edmondoscar from en the independent wine. >> caller: thank you for taking a call. first off, i think the bill is pro- growth which will be good. it's unfortunate that it raises the deficit so much and i'm highly skeptical, but the growth will make up for the lack of funding in the bill. i think there will be a problem down the line in terms of fiscal and monetary policy carrying that out due to the size of the deficit and what it's going to cost.

i think in the short term, it will be positive but it's going to lead to more shares of buybacks as opposed to the wage growth and i don't like the fact that the obamacare mandate repeal is linked to this as well. that should have been a separate issue just because it didn't seem right in terms of how it was going and finally, cutting taxes on the rich it could lead to a situation where in the financial market especially which could be an issue down the line because it is right now and overall as an independent it is disheartening. i wish this had been more bipartisan in the manner people could have appreciated how the bill went through as opposed to one party pushed through what they could get through in their time in power. >> host: thanks for the call. senator tom udall. i voted no on what they are calling gop tax scam which will line the pockets. a real donald trump, his family and the billionaire donors.

idonors. it will bdonors. there will be room for multinational corporate issues, but for the working mexicans and the rest of the country can't the bilcut thebill will be an u. people have much more tomorrow morning and more of your calls on the washington journal 7 a.m. eastern, 4:00 for those on the west coast. lakeview oregon on the republican line go ahead, please. >> caller: i am so happy to see that they finally got their act together and passed this bill. i know they have to finalize it in the morning but i'm very excited and i just wanted to say this tax bill is only bringing american taxes in line with foreign country taxes. some are as low as 15%. i think they have a 21%. >> host: [inaudible] >> guest: >> caller: yes, down from 35%, but we are only bringing our taxes in line with other countries. now, consider america brings in far more products than we send

out to foreign countries. we are stuck with service jobs. they don't have health care traditionally. a lot of them don't even work full-time. you go to work for wal-mart and they want to keep your hours below 25424 to keep from paying your health insurance. this is going to bring back production where we will have health insurance. i think people need to stop and take a breath. give it a chance before you just slam this because it's the economif the economydoes what i, many people are going to have opportunities instead of being stuck at the job you are because you can't go anywhere because you're afraid of not having a job. that is my comment and i thank you for taking the time with me and i love c-span. >> host: thank you and we appreciate your comments as well. it's good to tend in los angeles on the democrats whine. good evening to you out west.

>> caller: i will start with the course of thank you for taking my call which is what everybody is beginning with. it's a good thing. i am a little distressed out here watching it. i thought the most telling comment you had on the screen of the moments ago was from mitch mcconnell when he says if we can't sell this to the american people than we ought to be in another line of work. it's sort of an admission that the action they took tonight goes against what the sentiment of the american people is pulled after poll showing that the public is not in support of this bill and doesn't believe the underlining claims. cutting taxes is very easy. it's paying for those tax cuts that's the trick and it's easy enough to say to someone hears a thousand dollars and when they see where did this come from, don't worry about that. the republicans have also hinted already that medicare and social security are the next targets on their list if we have to pay for these, and i believe one thing that may have been would be when

they if just by cutting the rate it doesn't bring enough jobs back to america the next battle cry will be you know that the pesky minimum wage is leading us back because they pay people so cheaply overseas so maybe we need some waivers on that. i think if i was him this afternoon and from my original home state in delaware tom carper made some great points where he says democrats are all for cutting the corporate tax and for giving back tax money to the middle class but it's the way we do it. there's a lot of common ground if we ever take the time and that is what has gotten lost even more so in what i think is a very bad bill. >> host: thank you from los angeles and infrastructure also an idea we are hearing from the administration and entitlements from speaker paul ryan wil there will be part of the debate and congress needs to work out a spending plan friday is the

deadline. this is from senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts from the hill newspaper ripping into the gop tax bill calling it government for sale. senate republicans say this is good news for the american people an that we are going to t the economy roaring back with increased pay and jobs and make america more competitive in the global economy. joining us on the independence line from boca raton florida, go ahead please. >> caller: thank you for taking my call and for our president donald trump. this is a historic moment. proud of our republicans. i'm disappointed in the democrats, very disappointed. i own an agency in palm beach county, florida for 40 years. i remember president ronald reagan and how the jobs were coming flowing in. when obama took over and i'm sorry to say i voted for him

twice, i spok saw the people out there in our county are homeless, with nowhere to go. there were hardly any jobs. i am looking forward now to more jobs, better wages for the american people. it's about time that these democrats wake up. i know i did, and i vote for who i believe in. i believe in president trump, and i believed that he would make this economy 100% better than it has been in the eight years. thank you very much and i am looking forward to this tax bill. think you can. >> let me recap unless the pico in case you missed the proceedings took place today because he is th espoused it pae initial version of the dope is

because there were items in the legislation that didn't meet the parliamentary rules known as the veteran senator from west virginia the senate had to get ouout of the bill so it goes bak to the house tomorrow morning or this morning i should say the house will dabble in at 9:00 eastern for the morning hour and then at 10:00 for legislative business so you can watch the debate and the final vote on the bill tomorrow probably mid morning and been abl then it win to the president for his signature which we just heard there will be a news conference event at 1:00 tomorrow afternoon which we will be covering as well and the senate convening at 11 a.m.. the washington journal coming up in just a couple of hours and all of our programming available online any time at c-span.org. up next, we will begin with the senate debate earlier today here on c-span2.