The U.S. House of Representatives last week passed a controversial tax reform bill that would increase the levy on alternative investment managers by almost $50 billion over the next decade.

“We planted the flag of fiscal responsibility,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “as we gave a tax cut to the middle class.”

Eight Democrats joined 185 Republicans in voting against the measure, championed by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.). But it wasn’t enough to sink the measure, which passed by a vote of 216 to 193. But the bill, which has faced withering criticism from Republicans, is unlikely to get through the Senate. Even if it did, President Bush had threatened to veto it.