McConnell on Tax Bill: We've Got 50 Votes

Senate majority leader says GOP leaders convinced enough holdouts
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Dec 1, 2017 11:09 AM CST
Updated Dec 1, 2017 12:45 PM CST
GOP Senator: We've Got the Votes to Pass Tax Bill
Telling reporters "we have the votes," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., walks to the chamber.   (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

"We have the votes." So declared Mitch McConnell Friday on the GOP's bid to push a $1.4 trillion tax bill through the Senate. The final vote in the chamber is expected to come later Friday. The Senate majority leader's comment came soon after the No. 2 Senate GOP leader, John Cornyn of Texas, said the same, per the AP. With the party controlling the Senate 52-48 and Democrats uniformly opposed, Republicans need 50 votes to win approval; VP Pence would break a tie. The measure's momentum was boosted Friday when Sen. Ron Johnson said he'd vote for it after leaders agreed to his demand to make tax breaks more generous for millions of businesses. Sen. Steve Daines also backed the legislation after winning an increase in the business income deduction from 17.4% to 20%.

The bill seemed to be sailing toward passage Thursday, until a report out of the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation estimated the package would produce budget deficits totaling $1 trillion over the next 10 years. Advocates say the measure's tax cuts will spark enough economic growth to pay for the lowered levies. The projection left the votes of several GOP senators in doubt, including Tennessee's Bob Corker and Arizona's Jeff Flake; Maine's Susan Collins is also up in the air. Cornyn said leaders are still working on any holdouts. Senate passage would push Congress a step closer to the first rewrite of the nation's tax code in 31 years. Unlike the House tax bill recently passed, the Senate measure would end the Obama requirement that people pay a tax penalty if they don't buy health insurance.

(More Trump tax plan stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X