We probably have to go on food stamps just to pay so we can pay for our medical bills. We begin with a huge day for republicans, tax reform on the brink of passage again. Congress should have been done with this yesterday except for a couple of socalled glitches that will force the house vote a second time on what essentially is the same bill. We have a lot to talk about and i have a great team to break it down. Before i get to the team, i want to show you a little of what happened over the last 18 hours or so. As it turns out, the house vote was just the beginning of a very interesting day on capitol hill. Watch. The yeas are 227 and the nays are 203. The conference report is adopted. Without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table. Were following breaking news from the house of representatives where theyre being forced into a redo on their tax bill. This is a functional equivalent of them scoring, dancing in the end zone, and then having a fiveyard penalty called and having to do it all over again. Will this pass tonight . Absolutely. There are a couple of little glitches but theyre very minor adjustmen adjustments. Save our health care. This fellow has a very interesting way of trying to get his point of view across. Down the hall, down the hall 100 feet is senator mcconnells office. The stream of lobbyists in and out of senator mcconnells office from americas largest, richest corporations. A year from now republicans will be running away from this bill in shame for voting yes this evening. The ayes are 51, the nays are 48. The tax cuts and jobs act is passed. If we cant sell this to the American People, we ought to go into another line of work. Weve got a lot to cover. Lets start with msnbcs Garrett Haake who we saw in that piece. All right, garrett, Mitch Mcconnell called these minor issues. What exactly are they and is this thing getting through today . Reporter hes right. These are parliamentary issues, things that were added late in the game that the pau parliamentarian decided have to come out. They are not major features of this tax bill. One of the items is a plan that ted cruz had inserted to allow people to use 529 savings accounts to save money for home school expenses. And the other deals with the tax treatment of small universities and how their endowments are taxed. None of the big ticket items. So those came out of the bill last night. You saw the senate pass this, send it back over to the house. This will get through the house again today, stephanie. While this was sort of embarrassing for republicans to have to do this all over again today, i can tell you paul ryan would probably be happy to vote on this bill every single day for the rest of the year if he could, and theres a lot of House Republicans who feel the same way. This is, for them, an enormous achievement. They want to see it done. If it takes them 12 more hours to do it than they thought, so be it. So be it. Well, they want to vote on this day in and day out. Its a huge, huge win for them. I want to bring in Kristen Welker now live at the white house. Kristen, passing tax reform, this is President Trumps first major legislative win, and it wins with the rich people, with big business. And while they werent President Trumps base, he certainly wants to celebrate this christmas at maralago with the richest of the rich and they have got a lot to party about. Reporter well, look, this is a huge achievement for President Trump. He hasnt had a major legislative victory yet, so theyre really preparing to celebrate here at the white house. Theres no doubt about that. Remember, he failed to repeal and replace obamacare, so this is what hes been focused on. He wanted to deliver a big tax cut for the American People by christmas. Now he can say he has done that. The president tweeting overnight the United StatesSenate Just Passed the biggest in history tax cut and reform bill. Terrible individual mandate obamacare repealed. Goes to the house today. He said tomorrow morning for final vote. If approved, there will be a News Conference at the white house at approximately 1 00 p. M. Now, were just learning that event will get pushed to 3 00 p. M. Hes going to have senate and House Republicans join him. To your broader point, though, steph, the fact that if you look at the numbers of this it will benefit wealthy americans, President Trump stands to benefit from this as well, despite the fact that he says its going to cause him to pay big. Of course we cant drill down on that because he hasnt released his tax returns yet. The white house saying hes still under audit. Bottom line youll hear the president tout this as a major tax cut for the middle class. The challenge for the president and republicans, this bill is still pretty unpopular. Our latest poll showing 41 of americans say its a bad idea, so they have their work cut out for them. Steph. They have their work cut out for them. This bill is based on trickledown economics, so if it works, thats a win for them. While we havent seen the president s taxes, we know both President Trump and his daughter, ivanka trump, have Lifestyle Brands where they sell clothing. Ivanka just opened up a store here in new york city. This is an opportunity for both of them and we will have the chance to monitor whether or not they move manufacturing state side. Joining me now, new york congressman chris collins, one of the 227 republicans who voted yes on this bill. Congressman, congratulations. This is a huge win for republicans. For you, youre actually in the minority in the state of new york. Five of your republican colleagues voted no on this legislation. What are they missing here . Well, stephanie, its a big win for america. Its a big win for our children and grandchildren to finally get this economy moving so they can participate in a growing economy and live the American Dream. But its also for 98 of my constituents in new york, 27 western new york and buffalo, theyll get anywhere from 1,000 to 2,000 more in takehome pay next year because of the significant changes, doubling of the Child Tax Credit to 2,000. Almost a double in the standard family deduction from 12,700 to 24,000. Theyll see 100 to 150 a month more in their takehome pay. You know what, theyre going to spending it. Theyre going to spending it on main street, theyre going to go to dinner, theyre going to do what they do. Its going to multiply in the economy. Then you throw on top of that our 21 Corporate Tax rate which finally makes us competitive around the world. Well, they will until 2025 when the individual cuts expire. Why did five republicans in your state not agree with you . That pitch you just made is a good one. Well, first of all, the sunset is that was a parliamentarian rule in the senate. While technically the individual cuts would expire in 2025, im confident a future congress will be pushing them forward, so you have to stay tuned on that. Were good for eight years, the corporate rates are locked in. Im a little confused frankly about my fellow new yorkers because like i said, 98 of my constituents are going to get a tax cut. I believe the same is true certainly outside of the city. And while there may be some millionaires and billionaires in long island that are losing significant state and local tax deductions, this tax bill was not about the folks making 2 million a year living in a 5 million a house. That was not what this was about. There are millionaires and billionaires right here in new york getting truly hooked up because carried interest is still in this bill. Steve schwartzman, a close ally of the president , clocked i want to say 400 million this year. President trump, steve mnuchin, gary cohn on the campaign trail and since in office said carried interest will without a doubt be taken out. Its one of the things that hurt mitt romney when he was running because he came from the private equity industry. Carried interest is still in there. We did change the holding period. You changed it for hedge Fund Managers, not for private equity, the guys who truly benefit for it. And they always have a longer than threeyear holding period. They buy Companies Just like real estate firms do. So theyre being taxed at a higher rate like its Investment Income than new york city firefighters and police officers. Just this morning with axios, gary cohn said the white house tried 25 times to get carried interest taken out and the hill fought it. By the hill fighting it, that means that there are special Interest Groups pushing the buttons. Who supports, make the argument for me, why carried interest should be in there because the white house just said we wanted it out. Congress wants it in. Oh, i cant make that argument. I advocated strongly to remove the carried interest. Then who wanted it in . You voted yes. Well, it came through our ways and means committee. Thats where our tax bill was debated and changed. All i can say is we can agree to disagree on things and i disagreed with keeping that in there. It did stay, but this is a great bill so if its you cant ever let perfect be the enemy of good. Its 99 good. I wish the individual rates were permanent. I wish carried interest was gone. But that doesnt change the fact that the Business Community is going to rock and roll. 95 , 98 of my constituents will have an extra 100 to 150 every single month to spend and they will spend it and thats going to trickle through the economy. Well, you yourself, youre a Small Businessman. Are you going to raise wages for your employees when you get your tax cut . We just gave significant raises in one of the companies im involved in two weeks ago because, frankly, whats happening with a strong economy, theres more demand for workers. As theres more demand, youre going to have to increase wages to keep your significant workers. My biotechnology company, yes, we had substantial raises across the board for all 114 employees two weeks ago. But without the border adjustment tax, the fact that we have a global workforce, were still going to be able to have cheap labor overseas, so theres not really a reason to bring those jobs back and Corporate America isnt being forced to. You didnt do anything to the payroll tax here. Just because corporations are going to have more money, mike bloomberg, probably new yorks most successful businessman, says its absolute fantasy to believe that companies are going to start paying their employees more money. Well, i agree with you on the b. A. T. Im a big supporter of the border adjustment tax. I was disappointed when that didnt get in. That would have put a 20 effective tariff on goods being made overseas. I thought that was a brilliant move, it didnt make it in. Its now going to be up to our Commerce Department to negotiate trade deals or put tariffs in place against china and mexico, not europe. Europe, canada, and the like, they pay similar wages. But the only way were going to get our manufacturing jobs back from mexico and china is to put significant tariffs against products made in those countries. We have to put America First. Whether its 20 , which is what a b. A. T. Would have been or even 30 , people are right, if youre paying 4 an hour in mexico, youre not going to pay 30 an hour in the u. S. Weve got to level the Playing Field with china and mexico with significant tariffs to encourage these companies to bring the jobs back. We should point out that the trade deficit between the United States and china has only increased in the last ten months. I do want to ask, this bill is supposed to spike the economy. The economy that is slowly but steadily growing. If it doesnt pay for itself, because in paying for itself, theres the assumption that theres going to be welfare reform, theres going to be infrastructure spending. If it doesnt pay for itself and there have to be cuts, are there going to be changes to entitlements . Well, right now the biggest change that were looking at in the entitlement world is for ablebodied adults who dont have minor children at home to get out and get a job. Theres plenty of jobs right now. Theres more jobs than there are people willing to fill it. So when youre looking at some of the benefits ablebodied adults are getting without minor children at home, thats going to be a big focus we have. And i think 98 of americans would agree those people should not be sitting on the steps, they should be out working. They may not love the john, they may not love the hours, they may not love the pay, but they need to get out and get a job. So does that mean we should expect cuts to medicaid and medicare, Social Security . No. We are looking then how do you do it . Well, a growing economy at 3 to 3. 5 , will double our economy in 20 years to 40 trillion. Its been growing at 1 , 1. 5 for eight years under barack obama, which is the whole reason we ended up with 10 trillion of extra debt. Sir, it was at 3 at four different points during that period. Well, i guess, again, we can agree to disagree. But we ended up adding 10 trillion to our nations debt over those eight years. And what do you think is going to happen to our nations debt with this tax bill . You dont think were going to add to our debt . Well, lets say for right now it added 1 trillion over ten years. Thats less than obama did every year of his presidency. You do remember that president obama was elected at the height of the financial crisis when we were in a housing disaster in this country. Right. And we had the worst economic recovery following a major recession in the history of economics. Which was a steady climb for eight years. Well, i dont know that it does any of us any good to relitigate the deplorable eight years of barack obama. Sir, you just brought it up. Only time will tell what happens to the economy. Youre already seeing the stock market reacting in a positive way. And in new york state where we have to have by constitution a fully funded state pension plan, this could reduce the pension burn that all of our cities, towns, villages and counties in new york, potentially even eliminating the need for those municipalities to make pension payments in the near future because the soaring stock market will make sure that the pension fund in new york is fully funded. Thats a consequence i certainly havent heard our governor talk about, but that would be another major benefit of our tax plan. That is a great point. We have to remember pensions, 401 k s, they are affected in a very positive way by the stock market. Quick, before we go, how about value of homes. Are you concerned at all in new york state about home values, because some are concerned that with mortgage deductions changing, it could impact house values. Thats cry baby governor cuomo, who is bringing up some of the issues that mostly are related to his tax and spend policies in albany. No, i am not concerned. People are buying houses because they want to buy a house, live in a certain neighborhood, have their kids go to a Certain School district. We do need to reduce our tax burden in new york, which is double that of florida per person. Theres no reason we shouldnt be and the governor and the assembly and senate should be looking at ways to reduce the tax burden, especially on homeowners in new york. But, stephanie, im not worried that somehow theres going to be a major reduction in home values when thats just not, i believe, going to happen. All right, thanks so much for joining me and congratulations, huge win. Thank you very much. All right. I want to bring in brendan greeley, a contributor to the Economist Free Exchange blog and megan murphy, editor of business week. Which you have to see this week. And christine quinn, vice chairman of the new york state democratic party. Megan, you first. When you talk to Business Leaders about this tax plan which is going to become law later today, what are they telling you . Business leaders are certainly excited about this tax bill. It takes the rate down, as we know when we talk about the transfer to the wealthy under this bill, thats a large part of this transfer and the permanent part of that transfer depose to corporation. One other part talking about carried interest, also remember the passthrough rate is coming down which is how so many Small Businesses distribute income in this country and thats a huge benefit there. What they dont say is that they are going to increase wages, dramatically expand jobs or bring manufacturing back to the United States. Theres something really important that just came through in that discussion and i want to not let it go. The reason jobs and manufacturing have relocated to places like mexico and china is not just cheap wages. Of course thats a factor. But its that we have a truly globalized economy. You can say America First all you want. And thats not changing. That is not changing. And what the issue is, are we equipping American Workers to really face the challenges of a next generation economy, a more automated economy, an economy where robots are doing a larger share of the work, a truly disrupted economy where more people are phased into lower wage jobs that are only parttime jobs. And also please stop talking about the stock market and 401 k s. For the majority of families on working class incomes who are fighting to participate in this recovery, which is it true is stop and start, that doesnt affect them. They dont have the money, the luxury of benefitting from a roaring stock market or increase in their 401 k . Please stop saying that to those voters. What they are going to get, yes, eight out of ten families are going to get a tax cut from this bill. That may be good news over time for republicans. But lets make no mistake about it