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

A handful of GOP senators are on the fence about the tax bill
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

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."

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.