utica- early saturday morning the u.s. senate passed their version of the tax reform bill. vice president mike pence announced the final vote to be 51 to 49 in favor to passing the bill.  the initial bill passed through the house of representatives in november. local new hartford congresswoman claudia tenney worked first hand with the bill for the past several months.  she said the initial blueprint to the bill was unacceptable and needed to be refined.  “we were able to get a ten thousand dollar deduction for property tax, which in our area would cover houses which cost up to three hundred and fifty thousand dollars” said tenney.  she said this deduction is for those state employees such as firefighters and police officers who are retired and live off a pension. tenney said this is what led her to vote “yes” on the bill.  tenney also said, for middle class americans this potential tax cut could be tremendous. tenney mentioned, the child care tax credit which has been increased to $1,600 per child, however she said she hopes this section of the bill will be increased even further to $2,500.  “it isn’t where i would like to see it,” said tenney. “there were some things i liked in the house bill that weren’t in the senate bill and some things i liked in the senate bill that weren’t in the house bill.”  the next plan in the process is for both the senate and the house to meet tomorrow to start the compromising process.  “it’s going to be a very contentious next few weeks to get this passed before christmas, but i do believe were on track to get it done,” said tenney.
tenney speaks on tax bill