ASTON, Pa. (AP) — House Speaker Paul Ryan is confronting a career-defining challenge as he sets out to sell a GOP tax overhaul that Republicans are counting on to keep them in control of Congress.

Many Republicans fear that failure on taxes, coming on the heels of failure on health care, could be harshly punished by voters in next year's midterms.

With that political reality as the backdrop, Ryan traveled outside the Beltway Thursday to pitch the GOP's ambitious plan at a pipe-fitting plant in Pennsylvania. The state is home to several House districts Democrats hope to contest next year.

Ryan told workers that American companies will be able to compete better in a global economy if corporate rates are slashed from 35 percent to 20 percent, as envisioned in the GOP plan.