A bill to provide tax relief related to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow various tax credits, deductions, and modifications to existing rules for individuals and businesses affected by Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria.
With respect to individuals and businesses in the affected areas, the bill:
waives the 10% additional tax on early distributions from retirement plans for up to $100,000 in distributions made on or after August 23, 2017, and before January 1, 2019;
permits individuals to recontribute funds to retirement plans if the funds were distributed for a home purchase in a hurricane disaster area that was cancelled on account of the hurricanes;
increases the limit and extends the repayment deadline for loans from retirement plans;
allows an employee retention tax credit for employers equal to 40% of the qualified wages (up to $6,000 per employee) paid to an employee whose principal place of employment on specified dates was in a hurricane disaster zone;
modifies the deduction for charitable contributions to temporarily suspend the limitations on charitable contributions made before December 31, 2017, for relief efforts in the hurricane disaster areas;
modifies the deduction for personal casualty losses in the hurricane disaster areas to eliminate: (1) the requirement for losses to exceed 10% of adjusted gross income to qualify for the deduction, and (2) the requirement to itemize; and
allows taxpayers to use earned income from the immediately preceding year for the purpose of determining earned income for the earned income tax credit and the child tax credit.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on September 28, 2017. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on September 28, 2017: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 115th Congress (2017-18), 442 of the 11,421 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.9 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Ted Cruz (R-TX) introduced it on September 28, 2017, and 2 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 2 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on September 28, 2017, 3269 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3269 days ago, on September 28, 2017.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 115th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2019 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers