GOP leaders in advanced talks to change tax plan in bid to win over holdouts
Johnson will cave. He is teabagger!
GOP leaders in advanced talks to change tax plan in bid to win over holdouts
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/business/wp/2017/11/26/gop-leaders-in-advanced-talks-to-change-tax-plan-in-bid-to-win-over-holdouts/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_goptax-230pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.0e2ad9ac11cd
By Damian Paletta November 26 at 2:14 PM
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) is surrounded by reporters as he goes to vote on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Susan Walsh/AP)
Senate Republicans are seriously considering several last-minute changes to their tax legislation in an effort to mollify wavering members, four people familiar with the discussions said, as GOP leaders seek to keep their members from defecting ahead of crucial votes this week....................................
There are 52 Republicans in the 100-seat Senate, and GOP leaders can only afford to lose two votes if they want to pass their bill because Democrats are expected to unite in opposition against it. Typically, tax bills require 60 votes in order to clear procedural hurdles, but Republicans are trying to pass the package through a process known as “reconciliation” that only requires a majority of votes.
At least six GOP members have raised concerns about specific provisions in the GOP tax bill, though none has flatly said they plan to vote against it this week. Johnson came closest, saying he opposed the measure but later suggesting he could support it with changes.
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Senate Republicans are also seriously considering a change requested by Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), which would allow Americans to deduct $10,000 in local property taxes from their taxable income. This provision was in a bill that passed the House of Representatives, but it is not in the Senate bill. Though Collins has voiced the most concerns about its absence, other members have quietly said they also want the change to be made.
Making this change could cost more than $100 billion over 10 years and would probably require Republicans to find new money to offset it.
The changes could be made — or attempted to be made — over the course of the week.
Voting on the tax measure is scheduled to begin Tuesday, as the Senate Budget Committee plans to take a procedural step that afternoon that would effectively send the tax bill to the Senate floor. But Johnson is on the budget panel, and he could demand changes by Tuesday in order to win his vote. If he blocks the tax bill in the Budget Committee and is joined by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has raised separate concerns, the package could quickly die..............................
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