WASHINGTON: The US Senate narrowly passed a 2018 federal budget Thursday, clearing the way for President Donald Trump’s controversial tax overhaul that includes $1.5 trillion in tax cuts.
The Republican measure, which passed along party lines, is a largely symbolic gesture. But importantly, it includes special instructions that allows Trump’s party to pass historic tax reforms with a simple majority vote.
“With this budget, we’re on a path to delivering much needed relief to American individuals and families who have borne the burdens of an unfair tax code for entirely too long,” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said immediately following the 51-49 vote.
Trump hailed the vote as “an important step in advancing the administration’s pro-growth and pro-jobs legislative agenda,” saying it “creates a pathway to unleash the potential of the American economy through tax reform and tax cuts.”
Nine months into his presidency, Trump’s tax gambit is the last chance to salvage key planks of his 2017 legislative agenda.
After failing to repeal former president Barack Obama’s health care law, adoption of tax cuts before year’s end has become the top priority for Republicans who control Congress.
Trump took office in January arguing that tax reform will further boost the economy and benefit ordinary Americans.
“Frankly, I think we have the votes for the tax cuts which will follow fairly shortly,” Trump said at the White House.
“We’re really doing well, but we can do something very, very spectacular if we’re given the tax cuts.”
The politically explosive reforms are being addressed in several steps, beginning with Thursday’s vote on a resolution to establish the 2018 budget framework.
The measure contains language that allows the Senate to use a process known as “reconciliation” to fast-track the tax overhaul by requiring only a simple majority in the 100-member Senate, instead of the 60 generally required to move major legislation.
With Senate Republicans holding 52 seats, that would mean they no longer need Democratic support, unless there are more than two Republican defections.
The basis of the reforms, outlined last month, is a drop in the corporate tax rate from 35 to 20 percent, a reduction in income tax for the majority of income groups, and the elimination of loopholes and deductions to fix a tax code which Trump calls a “relic.”
The top one percent of earners will see their after-tax incomes rise 8.5 percent in 2018, while the 95 percent lower down the scale will see a gain of 0.5-1.2 percent, according to the Tax Policy Center, a Brookings Institution-Urban Institute joint venture.
The center says the reforms will cost $2.4 trillion in lost federal revenues during their first decade, which raises questions about how they will be financed.
Republican supporters of the changes say the tax cuts will more than cover the huge shortfall by spurring economic growth, which would lead to future tax revenues.
Democrats have strongly denounced the tax cuts as a $1.5 trillion giveaway to the rich, and said the budget framework would dramatically slash funds for education, transportation and infrastructure, while cutting deep into federal health programs for the elderly, the poor and the disabled.
“This nasty and backwards budget green lights cuts to Medicare and Medicaid in order to give a tax break to big corporations and the wealthiest Americans,” warned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Senator Bernie Sanders blasted the budget resolution as “horrific” and “extremely cruel.”
Fiscal conservatives worry a tax cut will add to the national debt, but Trump has called for Republican unity after some in the party balked at supporting a bill that would dismantle much of Obamacare.
Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said failure on tax reform could spark a crash in US stock markets which have repeatedly hit records in recent weeks.
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US Senate passes budget, in first step toward tax overhaul
US Senate passes budget, in first step toward tax overhaul
Another construction crane collapse in Thailand kills 2 people a day after deadly train derailment
- A construction crane has collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, a day after another construction accident in northeastern Thailand killed 32 people
NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand: A construction crane collapsed onto an elevated road near Bangkok, killing two people on Thursday, a day after another crane fell on a moving passenger train in northeastern Thailand and killed 32 people.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday’s train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday’s accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building’s collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai’s president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
The work on an extension of the Rama 2 Road expressway — a major artery leading from Bangkok — has become notorious for construction accidents, some of them fatal.
The crane collapsed at part of the road project in Samut Sakhon province, trapping two vehicles in the wreckage, according to the government’s Public Relations Department.
Transport Minister Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn said on Thai TV Channel 7 that two people had died. It was unclear if anyone else had been trapped in the wreckage.
There was uncertainty about the number of victims because the site is still considered too dangerous for search teams to enter, said Suchart Tongteng, a rescue worker with the Ruamkatanyu Foundation.
“At this moment, we still can’t say whether another collapse could happen,” he said, citing dangling steel plates. “That’s why there are no rescue personnel inside the scene, only teams conducting on-site safety assessments.”
At the site of Wednesday’s train derailment, the search for survivors ended, Nakhon Ratchasima Gov. Anuphong Suksomnit said. Three passengers listed as missing were presumed to have gotten off the train earlier, but that was still being investigated.
Officials believed 171 people had been aboard the train’s three carriages, which were being removed from the scene Thursday.
The crane that fell, crushing part of the train, was a launching gantry crane, a mobile piece of equipment often used in building elevated roadways.
Police were still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses and have not pressed charges, provincial Police Chief Narongsak Promta told reporters.
South Korea’s Foreign Ministry reported a South Korean man in his late 30s, was among the dead.
The high-speed rail project where the accident occurred is associated with the plan to connect China with Southeast Asia under Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative.
In August 2024, a railway tunnel on the planned route, also in Nakhon Ratchasima, collapsed, killing three workers.
Anan Phonimdaeng, acting governor of the State Railway of Thailand, said the project’s contractor is Italian-Thai Development, with a Chinese company responsible for design and construction supervision.
A statement posted on the website of the company, also known as Italthai, expressed condolences to the victims and said the company would pay compensation to the families of the dead and hospitalization expenses for the injured.
Transport Minister Phiphat said Italthai was also the lead contractor on the highway project where Thursday’s accident took place, though several other companies are also involved.
The rail accident had already sparked outrage because Italthai was also the co-lead contractor for the State Audit Building in Bangkok that collapsed during construction last March during a major earthquake centered in Myanmar. The building’s collapse was the worst quake damage in Thailand and about 100 people were killed.
Twenty-three individuals and companies have been indicted, including Italthai’s president and the local director for the company China Railway No. 10, the project’s joint venture partner. The charges in the case include professional negligence and document forgery, and Thailand’s Department of Special Investigation has recommended more indictments.
The involvement of Chinese companies in both projects has also drawn attention, as has Italthai and Chinese companies’ involvement in the construction of several expressway extensions in and around Bangkok where several accidents, some fatal, have occurred.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Wednesday the government was aware of the rail accident and had expressed condolences.
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