The Scene
Any single senator could have blocked Democrat Jacky Rosen from pushing through legislation on Tuesday that would end taxes on some tipped wages. But sometimes the Senate surprises everyone.
Instead, the entire chamber signed off on Rosen’s attempt, and the Senate unanimously passed the legislation led by Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, that the Nevada Democrat has also long supported.
Republicans currently have similar language in their party-line tax and border bill, but Rosen said she can’t support that GOP-only proposal, so she wanted to register her support for tax-free tips — which President Donald Trump is also backing — any way she could.
“Reconciliation is going to cut Medicaid, it’s going to cut SNAP. It’s going to do a lot of horrible things for Nevada families. But one thing Nevada families need is tax relief. Twenty-five percent of our workforce is in hospitality, a heavily tipped industry. I don’t have to tell you,” Rosen told Semafor shortly after her surprising win.
Cruz could have objected to Senate passage of the standalone tips legislation, since it might chip away at pressure to pass the larger tax package. But instead the Texan celebrated passage of his legislation, which Trump started pitching on the campaign trail last year in Nevada.
“What we just saw is the Senate passing No Tax on Tips 100-0,” Cruz said on the Senate floor. “And now we are sending it to the House of Representatives.”
Asked why she thought the bill managed to sail through, Rosen noted that her side followed the typical procedure for soliciting objections to unanimous passage, “and nobody objected. So you’re going to have to ask, well, 98 other people, because Ted and I were on the floor.”
The proposal could stall across the Capitol as Republicans try instead to pass the party-line megabill that includes the similar language.