--- title: The Byrd Rule: Why the House Must Revote on the GOP Tax Bill description: The U.S. House of Representatives passed the tax bill, formally called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, on Tuesday in a historic, party line vote.... canonical: https://time.com/5072689/gop-tax-bill-2017-what-is-the-byrd-rule/ author: John Patrick Pullen article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-20T00:17:04.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:38:26.971Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why the House Has to Revote on the GOP Tax Bill og:description: Three provisions violated the Senate's Byrd Rule og:url: https://time.com/5072689/gop-tax-bill-2017-what-is-the-byrd-rule/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcac61531984639e/698875462dce0191ff9e6f18/longest-serving-politicians-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Robert Byrd og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why the House Has to Revote on the GOP Tax Bill twitter:description: Three provisions violated the Senate's Byrd Rule twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdcac61531984639e/698875462dce0191ff9e6f18/longest-serving-politicians-05.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The House Has to Revote on the Tax Bill Because It Broke the Byrd Rule. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [John Patrick Pullen](https://time.com/author/john-patrick-pullen/)  ## John Patrick Pullen Dec 20, 2017 12:17 AM UTC  Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Byrd was the longest-serving U.S. Senator at the time of his death. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., on Capitol Hill in Washington. Byrd was the longest-serving U.S. Senator at the time of his death. Carolyn Kaster—AP  by [John Patrick Pullen](https://time.com/author/john-patrick-pullen/)  ## John Patrick Pullen Dec 20, 2017 12:17 AM UTC The U.S. House of Representatives passed the tax bill, formally called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, on Tuesday in a historic, party line vote. Within hours, House Republicans learned they’d have to do it all over again on Wednesday and revote on the bill, thanks to an obscure rule in the U.S. Senate. In an unusual turn of events, Democrats led by Sen. Bernie Sanders argued that three provisions of the GOP tax bill violate the Byrd Rule. But what is the Byrd Rule? > [](https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/943234306712928258) Named after former Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), the Byrd Rule, also known as the Byrd Act, can be invoked to stop the Senate from considering “extraneous” additions to bills that are allowed to pass with 50 votes. The rule is meant to streamline reconciliation – the process by which the House and the Senate negotiate over separate bills passed through each change and turn them into one piece of legislation for the president to sign. There are six criteria that could lead to a provision in a bill being deemed “extraneous” and therefore in violation of the [Byrd Rule:](http://archives-democrats-rules.house.gov/archives/byrd%5Frule.htm) --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- --- > “” --- According to Sanders and the Democrats, three provisions of the tax bill passed by the House violated the Byrd rule. They are the Cruz provision, which allows 529 education savings plans to be used for homeschool expenses; a provision on determining university endowment taxes, and the title of the bill, itself, “The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.” > [](https://twitter.com/SenSanders/status/943261132835512325) Sanders and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) raised the provisions to the Senate parliamentarian, who found them to be in violation of the Byrd Rule. As a result, Sanders and Wyden will raise a point of order to get the provisions removed from the Senate version of the bill – which is expected to pass on Tuesday night. This will require the House to undertake a tax bill revote on Wednesday. None of the provisions are major and none are expected to influence the outcome of the vote. “We applaud the parliamentarian for determining that three provisions in this disastrous bill are in violation of the Byrd Rule,” said Sanders and Wyden in a joint statement. Ultimately the legislative technicality may be little more than a speed bump to the GOP tax bill, which is expected to be signed into law by President Donald Trump before Christmas. Later on Tuesday, Sanders – and ardent opponent of the tax bill – offered a tongue-in-cheek Twitter poll to rename the tax bill. “Trillions 4 Billionaires” was narrowly leading Tuesday night. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5072689/gop-tax-bill-2017-what-is-the-byrd-rule/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5072689/gop-tax-bill-2017-what-is-the-byrd-rule/"},"headline":"The House Has to Revote on the Tax Bill Because It Broke the Byrd Rule. 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