Fate of GOP Tax Bill in Doubt as New Analysis Pours Cold Water on It

by Jane C. Timm 

Republicans are eyeing a crucial final vote Friday for a tax overhaul package expected to add $1 trillion to the nation's deficit over 10 years.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., threw his support behind the tax plan Thursday, boosting the bill's chances of passage.

While McCain's support offered momentum, key holdouts expressed renewed concern about the plan after a late-in-the-day analysis from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, or JCT, concluded that the plan doesn't live up to expectations.

Hope for a vote on the bill, however, re-emerged Friday after two of those GOP holdouts — Sens. Steve Daines, of Montana, and Ron Johnson, of Wisconsin, said they would support the bill after securing changes to how certain small businesses, known as "pass-throughs," would be taxed under the bill.

The previous evening, amid a whirl of meetings and dramatic votes, Senate GOP leaders rewrote the bill behind closed doors. They weighed scaling back the tax cuts in the legislation to secure crucial support. 

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Source: NBC News