This afternoon, the House passed a tax bill with a vote of 227-205, with 13 Republicans breaking ranks to vote against it. The bill that passed included a clause that would make tuition waivers for graduate students subject to income tax. This would significantly increase the tax liability of hundreds of thousands of graduate students.

The Senate tax bill is still under consideration by the Senate Finance Committee, and it does not include a provision that would make tuition waivers taxable.

At this point, we must ensure that the Senate bill does not change in this regard. Passage of the Senate bill appears somewhat less likely since a key Senator indicated that he would vote against the bill and the Finance Committee added the removal of the ACA individual mandate to the draft. Nonetheless, if the Senate does pass its own tax bill in the coming weeks, we must work to keep the House’s tuition waiver tax provision out of the final bill. We will continue to keep you updated and let you know when urgent action is needed.