Constitutional Tax Amendment Fails In House

An election-year Republican push for a constitutional amendment making it much more difficult to raise federal taxes failed in the House on Monday night.

After a debate conducted while millions of Americans’ scrambled to meet their income-tax filing deadline, the House voted 243-177 in favor of the proposed amendment. But that was 37 votes short of the two-thirds majority required for approval.

Supporters conceded from the start that their chance of victory was slim, but they said the vote would illustrate the difference between Democrats and Republicans.

GOP leaders had timed the debate to end with a vote a few hours before the midnight filing deadline for most taxpayers on the East Coast.