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U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, D-Springfield, urged House and Senate leaders Wednesday to delay consideration of a Republican-backed plan to overhaul the American tax code until after Democratic Alabama senator-elect Doug Jones is seated in Congress.

Neal, the top Democrat on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee and a member of the panel charged with reconciling the chambers' respective tax bills, contended that lawmakers should refrain from advancing a final version of the contentious legislation out of respect for the voters of Alabama. 

Casting Jones' Tuesday win over embattled Republican Roy Moore as a referendum on the Republican agenda, the congressman argued that Jones should weigh-in on the wide-ranging tax overhaul bill -- not a "political appointee."

Jones is unlikely to be seated in Congress until early 2018, as Alabama must certify the special election results before he can take the Oath of Office, according to reports.

Neal further said that such a delay is not unprecedented, pointing to Democrats' move to push back final action on the Affordable Care Act until after the 2010 Massachusetts special Senate election, which sent Republican Scott Brown to Congress. 

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, he argued, also took a similar approach by delaying consideration of President Barack Obama's U.S. Supreme Court nominee ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Contending that Democrats "did the right thing even when it wasn't in (their) best political interests," he called on Republicans to follow suit.

"Sen. McConnell doesn't get to have it both ways," Neal said. "Just as Sen. McConnell wanted to respect the will of voters in Massachusetts in 2010 and the will of the American people in 2016, he must now respect the will of the voters in Alabama and stop consideration of the Republican tax bill until Senator-elect Jones is seated."

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also called on Republican leaders to "slow down" consideration of the tax overhaul legislation and hold off on voting on the final version of the bill until after Jones arrives in D.C.

"Today, we Senate Democrats are calling on Mitch McConnell to hit pause on his tax bill and not hold a final vote until Doug Jones is sworn in to the Senate," he said during a Wednesday news conference. "Doug Jones will be the duly elected senator from the state of Alabama. The governor didn't appoint him, he won an election. It wold be wrong for Senate Republicans to jam through this tax bill without giving the newly elected senator from Alabama the opportunity to cast his vote."

Following Brown's win in the 2010 Massachusetts U.S. Senate special election, then-Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced that Democrats would not rush a health care bill through Congress and would wait until the new senator arrived before moving forward on the ACA, Politico reported at the time.

Reid, however, offered that Senate Democrats were considering advancing the legislation through the reconciliation process -- a filibuster-proof procedural move which has become more commonplace the in current hyper-partisan political climate on Capitol Hill.