The move forced the legislation to return to the House for a second vote. Final passage is expected Wednesday.
The bill had already passed the House Tuesday afternoon when the Senate parliamentarian found three minor parts of the legislation were in violation of an upper chamber rule.
Sanders, ranking member on the Senate Budget Committee, announced that he would bring the point of order in the Senate with Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., forcing Republicans to tweak the legislation.
“In the mad dash to provide tax breaks for their billionaire campaign contributors, our Republican colleagues forgot to comply with the rules of the Senate,” Sanders and Wyden said in a statement.
According to the Sanders, the parts of the final tax bill in violation of a Senate rule were a provision on use of qualified tuition accounts for homeschooling expenses, criteria for determining whether endowments for private universities are subject to an excise tax, and the title of the bill — the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.”
The Senate went on to pass the legislation shortly after midnight by a party-line vote of 51-48.
No Democrats or Independents supported the bill in either chamber.
Republicans argue that the bill will offer tax relief for households across the income spectrum and will spur economic growth. Opponents say the benefits of the legislation are concentrated among the wealthiest people and corporations in the country.
Shortly before the House passed the bill Tuesday afternoon 227-203, Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., said the package is “unconscionable.”
“You’re a Vermont family, if you’re lucky … you might make a couple hundred bucks. But at what price?” he said.
“Once these benefits expire, 83 percent of the benefits of the individual tax break go to the top 1 percent of Americans,” he continued.
