Five Senate Finance Committee Democrats, including Ranking Member Ron Wyden, will be part of the seven-member delegation that will go to conference with Senate and House Republicans and House Democrats to merge the two different versions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passed in the two chambers.
"We have a responsibility to the American people to get this right," Minority Leader Charles Schumer said in a statement. "I hope my Republican colleagues on the Conference Committee will stop their sham process and finally engage with Democrats in a transparent, thoughtful debate to reform the tax code without saddling the next generation of leaders with larger deficits and debts, limiting our ability to make the kind of investments we need to be making in education, infrastructure, and scientific research."
Senate Finance Committee Democrats Maria Cantwell, Debbie Stabenow, Bob Menendez and Tom Carper will join Wyden, along with Sens. Patty Murray and Bernie Sanders, at the conference. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced the Republican conferees Dec. 6, the same day the Senate voted to go to conference with the House on the tax bill.
The committee must reconcile the House and Senate versions of the bill while complying with Senate budget and procedural rules. Senate Finance Committee Democratic aides told reporters yesterday that they would be sticklers on the Byrd rule, a provision requiring that bills not increase the deficit in a 10-year budget window.
