Representative Jack Kemp and Senator William Roth, both Republicans, had nearly won passage of a tax cut during the Carter presidency, but Jimmy Carter feared an increase in the deficit and so prevented the bill's passage. Reagan made a major tax cut his top priority once he had taken office. The Democrats maintained a majority during the US House of Representatives during the 97th Congress, but Reagan was able to convince conservative Democrats like Phil Gramm to support the bill. The Act passed the US Congress on August 4, 1981 and was signed into law by Reagan on August 13, 1981. It was one of the largest tax cuts in US history, and ERTA and the Tax Reform Act of 1986 are known together as the Reagan tax cuts. Along with spending cuts, Reagan's tax cuts were the centerpiece of what some contemporaries described as the conservative "Reagan Revolution."