OnPolitics Today: Republicans are *this close* to passing tax reform

But they’re not quite there yet.

Insert your favorite “light at the end of the tunnel” metaphor here, because that’s what Republicans — House, Senate and President Trump alike — are feeling right now.

Subscribe here and let’s dive in.

Do not pass go, do not collect $200

So, the House on Tuesday approved a massive tax code overhaul. And it was such a big freaking deal — the first big step of their first major legislative victory all year! — that Republicans could hardly contain themselves.

“This is profound change and this is change that is going to put our country on the right path,” Speaker Paul Ryan said after the vote.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called it a “once in a generation opportunity.”

President Trump congratulated House leadership in a tweet: “Congratulations to Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Kevin Brady, Steve Scalise, Cathy McMorris Rodgers and all great House Republicans who voted in favor of cutting your taxes!”

And now they’re going to have to do it all over again. After all that fanfare, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that three minor provisions in the GOP bill did not comply with strict budget rules and would have to be stripped out. That means the House will have to vote again on the legislation sans those provisions. And it also pushes back both a Senate vote and signing the legislation into law.

So close. Until then, learn how soon the bill (when it finally is law) will affect you (and how it compares to what Trump wanted earlier this year).

But really guys, this is why voting matters

Last month, Virginia Democrat Shelly Simonds lost her race to Republican David Yancey by 10 votes.

Yes. 10.

So, naturally, she called for a recount.

That paid off Tuesday when an official tally showed that Simonds had won.

By a single vote. Seriously. 11,608 to 11,607.

Simonds’ story is already remarkable in that sense, but wait, there’s more. Her victory means that the Virginia House of Delegates is now tied 50-50, after Democrats managed to flip 16 seats in November’s elections. After nearly two decades of control, Republicans will have to share power with Democrats.

Elsewhere in politics

• House Admin. Committee reports $342K in discrimination and harassment payouts from 2008 to 2012

• Congress rushes to pass spending bill, avert a government shutdown heading into Christmas holidays

• White House plan to ‘shame’ North Korea shows complexities of responding to cyberattacks

• John Kelly: I asked black Republicans to apply for Trump administration jobs

• Black activists hope Alabama victory shifts national Democrats focus to South

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