Jeffrey brown talks with the cast and writers of the bands visit, about a hapless Egyptian Group in israel. Its about taking little risks. And its also about how music, and maybe music and art, are bigger connectors than just language alone. Woodruff all that and more, on tonights pbs newshour. Major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by moving our economy for 160 years. Bnsf, the engine that connects us. Supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems skollfoundation. Org. The lemelson foundation. Committed to improving lives through invention, in the u. S. And developing countries. On the web at lemelson. Org. Supported by the john d. And catherine t. Macarthur foundation. Committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. More information at macfound. Org and with the ongoing support of these institutions this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. And by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. Thank you. Woodruff it is a done deal. Congressional republicans today pushed their sweeping tax bill across the finish line. Then, they partied with the president. Lisa desjardins begins our coverage. Hasnt been done in 34 years. But actually, really, it hasnt been done because we broke every record. Its the largest tax cut in the history of our country. Reporter for President Trump and governing republicans, a white house victory lap today after scoring their first sweeping legislative win. 3. 2 trillion, just think of it, in tax cuts for american families, including doubling standard deduction, and doubling Child Tax Credit. Reporter final passage of the tax code overhaul came after the bill hurdled lastminute roadblocks. House republicans first passed it yesterday, but Senate Republicans had to drop three provisions, which violated the budget rules governing the process. Chants of kill the bill temporarily drowned out senators as they moved to vote after midnight. It passed with all republicans voting yes, all democrats voting no, and Vice President pence presiding. The tax cuts and jobs act is passed. Reporter Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell brushed off the bills low ratings as temporary. If we cant sell this to the american people, we ought to go into another line of work. I think this is an important accomplishment for the country, that people will value and appreciate. Reporter then, today, the truly final vote came in the house, and with it another eruption of applause. The motion is adopted. The motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Reporter next, perhaps the largest lawmaker caravan in history took republicans to the white house by bus. As for democrats, leaders Chuck Schumer and nancy pelosi warned all that this bill will haunt the g. O. P. Now, we know they are popping champagne down on pennsylvania avenue. There are only two places where america is popping champagne the white house, and the corporate boardrooms, including p insulting crumbs they give working families are meager and temporary. The tax breaks for Corporate America are vast and permanent. Reporter as for the bills cost, estimated to be 1. 5 trillion by nonpartisan analysts, republicans have insisted that will be paid for by growth. But today, House Speaker paul ryan was asked if the growth will be enough to cover that cost. He responded nobody knows the answer to that question, because thats in the future. But what we do know is that this will increase economic growth. Reporter white house officials, including treasury secretary steven mnuchin, have said the plan will pay for itself. Woodruff we have a lot of questions for lisa, but first, here is a reminder of the main changes this bill will bring about. The Corporate Tax rate drops substantially, from 35 to 21 . Most individuals will see income tax cuts, but less dramatic, and those expire in 2026. The standard deduction doubles for most households. State and local Tax Deductions remain, but they are limited to 10,000. And, it repeals the individual Health Insurance mandate, that was part of the Affordable Care act. President trump is expected to sign the tax bill into law next week. And lisa, youve been looking into some of the other policy shifts in this tax bill. What have you found . Step back and lets look at how does it change our priorities . Light, im so happy to have this conversation. First, the business focus that republicans have here. It seems like its part of dna for republicans, but looking at it historically, this shift is to top rate for corporations that is the lowest since before world war ii. Also it changes the conversation. This is a key debate. Republicans see helping Business Owners as something that helps everyone. Democrats see that as helping the wealthy. Here republicans have kind of shifted the policy direction there. Another one that i havent heard talked about much, traditional families. This bill does a great deal for traditional families. One we know the Child Tax Credit is doubled in this bill, but something that hasnt gotten much attention is almoany. This bill would reverse the way alimony deductions work right now. Someone who pays alimony can take a deduction for that. This bill would change that in 2019, so that the deduction would only go to the person receiving alimony. Noticing this, paul ryan talked about these issues and the idea of increasing childbirth rates last week. Heres a listen. This is going to be the new economic challenge for america, people. Baby boomers are retiring. I did my part, but, you know, we need to have the higher birth rates in this country, meaning baby boomers are retiring and we have fewer people following them in the workforce. So its definitely something you see in this bill. Pushing toward marriage and families. Right. Woodruff it also affects things we buy and sell including housing. There is a housing cooldown in this over 750,000, you wouldnt get that Interest Deduction and i spoke to Real Estate Agents today who think that will affect buying and selling of properties. Woodruff so lets talk a little bit about how this is implemented exactly. Go over exactly when it goes into effect. Everyone says january 1, but what does that mean . It means income earned after january 1 will be taxed under this new law. Income this year taxed under the old lay. Filing your taxes in april, its the old law. The first time your tax form will see these changes will be 2019. Woodruff so we are 11 days away from january 1. Right. Woodruff employers and others, the i. R. S. , are got to scramble to get everything in order. Right. They have to withhold income based on in new tax law. The statement from the i. R. S. They gave me today says we anticipate the initial withholding guidance in january, allowing taxpayers to see benefits of the change as early as february. That guidance usually goes out early december. Its over a month late. Thats a problem for those who handle payrolls. We got a letter from the American Payroll Association as well, saying its a hurricane he lean task. They say the conference report gives me flexibility and feel its easier to handle this task. Some of it delayed, but what does this mean for the final days of 2017 for people . Charities are sending out notices to people to say, if you want to give, give more now, because fewer people will deduct the charitable deduction next year because the standard deduction doubles. So they think more people should give money now if youre willing to. The other issue, judy, is property taxes, if you pay high property taxes, you should ask your local assessor if you can pay next years taxes early because that may be a benefit, you might be able to take a deduction now that closes next year. Woodruff that means focusing on something other than the holidays . Unfortunately, yes, this is when this is hitting. Woodruff a major tax bill. Lisa desjardins, thank you. Woodruff and in the days other news, Congress Worked on a spending bill to keep the government running through midjanuary. It has to pass by friday night to avoid a shutdown. Remaining issues include funding for a childrens Health Insurance program, and continued authority for overseas wiretapping of terror suspects. A political battle involving virginias state legislature has come down to a tie. After democrat Sally Simonds had been told that she had won by one vote, a panel of judges ruled today that she and republican david yancey are dead even. The winner will be chosen by drawing names from a bowl. A simonds win could shift control of the Virginia House of delegates, and boost democratic hopes for next years congressional elections. The European Union took the unprecedented step today of censuring poland for overhauling its justice system. The countrys ruling Rightist Party has moved to take greater control of polish courts. In brussels, the e. U. s executive body charged that the changes threaten the rule of law, and could trigger sanctions. The executive or legislative powers are now set up in such a way that the ruling majority can systematically politically interfere with the composition, the powers, the administration and the functioning of these authorities, thereby rendering the independence of the judiciary completely moot. Woodruff polands president was undeterred. Hours after the e. U. Announcement, he signed the last of the new laws, completing the transformation of the judicial system. 92 somalis are accusing u. S. Immigration agents of gross mistreatment during a botched deportation this month. They say they spent nearly 48 hours shackled on an airplane before ultimately being returned to the u. S. A classaction lawsuit charges that immigration agents kicked, struck, choked and dragged the detainees. A federal judge has blocked any new deportation effort until next month. A federal judge in nevada declared a mistrial today in the cliven bundy case. Bundy, two sons, and a militia leader are accused of leading an armed standoff with federal agents over a cattle grazing dispute. The judge ruled that prosecutors failed to disclose all their evidence to the defense. The ridehailing service uber has suffered a major legal loss. The European Unions top court ruled today that the company should be regulated as a taxi service, and not a tech company. Taxi drivers in barcelona, spain celebrated the decision. They had accused uber of engaging in unfair competition, and they sued to bar it from doing business in their city. translated well, im very happy. We are hopeful. We have achieved a very great victory. We have managed to get uber, a multinational company, to kneel before a group of taxi drivers who in the past, four years ago, managed to stop the service here in spain, and now we have stopped it all over europe, which is very important. Woodruff uber played down the ruling, and said it might affect operations in only four countries. Back in this country, crews battling the thomas fire in Southern California were on guard today against a return of gusting winds. The wildfire is now 60 contained, after calm weather the past two days. But hundreds of evacuees may not be allowed to return home for christmas. South carolinas capital has become the first u. S. City to ban the use of bump stocks, devices that let semiautomatic rifles fire like full automatics. The Columbia City council took the step last night. Members cited the las vegas sniper who used a bump stock to kill 58 people in october. The New York Times says that it is reassigning White House Reporter glenn thrush after investigating allegations of sexual misconduct. In a statement, the paper says that thrush acted offensively, but does not deserve to be fired. Instead, hell stay on suspension for two months, before getting a new assignment. On wall street today, the Dow Jones Industrial average lost 28 points to close at 24,726. The nasdaq fell two points, and the s p 500 also slipped two. And, the disgraced former archbishop of boston, Cardinal Bernard law, died today at a hospital in rome. For years, he was a leading figure in the Roman Catholic church in the u. S. But he resigned in 2002, after the boston globe exposed a coverup of decades of priests molesting children. His funeral mass will be at st. Peters basilica tomorrow. Cardinal bernard law was 86 years old. Still to come on the newshour the tax bill repeals the obamacare individual mandate. A stunning new civilian death toll in the fight to retake an isis stronghold. When moving from one neighborhood to another can improve your health. And, much more. Woodruff we return to the tax bill that congress sent to the president today. The reach of the measure extends beyond what you file with the i. R. S. , to health care. John yang has more on that. Yang judy, the bill repeals the penalties levied on individuals if they do not have Health Insurance coverage, the socalled individual mandate. That takes effect in 2019. President trump says that repeals the Affordable Care act. So in this bill, not only do we have massive tax cuts and tax reform, we have essentially repealed obamacare and well come up with something that will be much better, whether its block grants or whether its taking what we have and doing something terrific, but obamacare has been repealed in this bill. Yang here to discuss in and other. And other Health Care Issues facing congress is julie rovner, chief washington correspondent for Kaiser Health news which, we should note, is not affiliated with kaiser permanente. Julie, you heard what the president said. Is he right . Is this effectively repealing the Affordable Care act . Not really. I think, you know, hes been saying this. Hes been saying its dead. Most of my colleagues have been describing it as bruised, battered, beaten up, but not dead yet. The individual mandate was important but is not the only piece of the law, nor i think these days people are saying its not even the most important piece to have the law. Thathat may well be the requiret for insurers to cover people with preexisting conditions or the expansion of medicaid. Thats where most of the enrollment growth has come from. Yang the Congressional Budget Office estimates 13 million more people will be without insurance over the next ten years because of what congress did and that premiums will go up 10 or more in most years. Now, whats the connection between those two things . Well, the concern has been from the Insurance Companies that if people arent Healthy People arent required have some sort of requirement to have coverage that they will wait to get tick zick to sign up so only sick people will have insurance, talking about the individual market where people buy their own coverage, somewhere around 17 Million People total, and the insurers said thats why they needed this individual mandate. Without the individual mandate, they say, we will have only sick people. They will be required basically to raise their premiums or else lose money and thats where that comes in. So what the c. B. O. Says is there will be a combination of people who no longer have coverage. Some will be the ones the republicans talk about, the people only buying coverage because they were required to or else face a fine. Some of them says the c. B. O. Will be people who will be priced out of coverage because the insurers will raise their premiums and, finally, some will be people who live in areas where there wont be any more insurers, likely to be rural areas where twhrr more republicans than democrats. Yang you seem to be describe ago body blow to the Affordable Care act. Oh, yes, its something thats serious. Its not necessarily a complete repeal or even a fully taking apart of the law. What the c. B. O. Has said is they expect, in most parts of the country, even without the requirement, most individual insurers markets would remain what they call stable. Yang there have been two bills moving through really the senate to try to stabilize the individual market under the Affordable Care act. One would fund the plans costsharing reduction payments, the other would create a pool of money to help Insurance Companies pay claims to the sickest policy holders. Just this afternoon, they said these are not going to be acted on before they go home for christmas. Whats the future for these two bills . Its still pretty unclear. Er senator susan colonel whrins famously said she would vote for the tax bill only if they did these two bills, which looks like theyre not going to do, at least not this year. One of them, actually the second one, whats called the reinsurance bill that would give insurers more money to pay for their sickest patients, that one, most analysts think, would be fairly significant, although theres not a whole lot of money in that bill, but if they actually did it right, that could contain premiums from going up. The other bill is a little more complicated. Thld restore these subsidies the president cut off in october but, really, since then, a combination of state regulators and the Insurance Companies have figured out ways most people are being held harmless, Insurance Companies are being paid back. The only people who are being hit