Republican Leaders ‘Confident’ They Have Votes to Pass Tax Bill<br />“We need to get on board Senator Flake and Senator Corker,” Senator John Cornyn of Texas said on Friday.<br />If Mr. Moore loses and the seat flips to the Democrats before the tax bill is sent to Mr. Trump’s desk, Republicans would either need<br />to win over Mr. Corker or Mr. Flake, or to persuade House Republicans to accept the bill passed by the Senate without changes.<br />2 Senate Republican, said on Friday morning that Republicans had the 50 votes they need to pass the tax bill.<br />Mr. Cornyn said Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee was not yet on board, and he indicated that Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona was also a holdout.<br />He said of Mr. Corker, “We haven’t given up, but right now we don’t have him.”<br />“We’re still talking with Senator Flake, too, but we’re confident of the 50,” Mr. Cornyn said.<br />To satisfy Mr. Corker, for example, Republicans were discussing putting in place tax increases<br />that would take effect some years from now, a step that would soften the deficit effects of the legislation.<br />Mr. Corker and Mr. Flake have pushed to scale back the tax cuts in the Senate bill by as much as one-third, in the wake of a report from the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation<br />that projected the bill would add $1 trillion to deficits over the course of a decade, even after accounting for economic growth.<br />• The Senate began debate on the tax bill at 10 a.m. Friday, with Republicans pushing for a final vote later in the day.<br />Fifty votes would be enough for a victory if Vice President Mike Pence breaks the tie, even if Mr. Corker<br />and Mr. Flake, two deficit hawks in the party, remain opposed to the bill.
