Any 3 of these 6 Republican senators could kill the tax GOP bill


Senate Republicans plan to pass their tax overhaul on Thursday or Friday. Any three Republicans could upset these plans, and six — Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.), Susan Collins (Maine), Ron Johnson (Wis.), and Steve Daines (Mont.) — are publicly on the fence. Those senators mostly want different things, and "together, the requests put Republican leaders in a difficult position, as they attempt to accommodate individual holdouts on a one-off basis without losing other members or creating a situation in which the bill collapses under the weight of disparate demands," The Washington Post reports.
Collins, who "has constituents who love it when she bucks the party line," Axios notes, wants Senate leaders to drop a provision axing ObamaCare's individual mandate but says she is open to first passing legislation to "mitigate the impact of those provisions." She is considered persuadable, as are Johnson and Daines, who complain that the bill favors corporations over "pass-through" businesses. McCain, Corker, and Flake "are a) worried about the deficit, (b) wholly unbeholden to leadership, and (c) relish the opportunity to snub President Trump," says Jonathan Swan at Axios, and they "aren't likely to face voters again."
Still, Swan says, "even my most pessimistic sources tell me they think the political urgency to get something done will override the concerns of the holdouts." Brian McGuire, a former chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), tells Politico: "The strongest force behind this bill, the one that will make the biggest difference in the end, is the political imperative for Republicans to pass it." Most GOP senators don't mind that it polls terribly — 52 percent of Republicans oppose it in a recent Quinnipiac poll — because, as a senior administration official tells Swan, they "can't go into election next year with 'accomplishments' only being: Kept ObamaCare, fixed DACA, raised debt ceiling, increased spending via a partially paid-for sequestration budget cap deal."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Samsung to make Tesla chips in $16.5B deal
Speed Read Tesla has signed a deal to get its next-generation chips from Samsung
-
FCC greenlights $8B Paramount-Skydance merger
Speed Read The Federal Communications Commission will allow Paramount to merge with the Hollywood studio Skydance
-
Tesla reports plummeting profits
Speed Read The company may soon face more problems with the expiration of federal electric vehicle tax credits
-
Dollar faces historic slump as stocks hit new high
Speed Read While stocks have recovered post-Trump tariffs, the dollar has weakened more than 10% this year
-
Economists fear US inflation data less reliable
speed read The Labor Department is collecting less data for its consumer price index due to staffing shortages
-
Crypto firm Coinbase hacked, faces SEC scrutiny
Speed Read The Securities and Exchange Commission has also been investigating whether Coinbase misstated its user numbers in past disclosures
-
Starbucks baristas strike over dress code
speed read The new uniform 'puts the burden on baristas' to buy new clothes, said a Starbucks Workers United union delegate
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement