- The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the House GOP tax reform bill, passed the House on Thursday.
- The Senate bill's path faces a murkier outlook, especially after the defection of GOP Sen. Ron Johnson on Wednesday.
- Republicans' path ahead for the tax bill remains rocky at best.
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The GOP tax plan just passed the House, but the Senate's bill is officially 'in trouble'
The House passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act Thursday, but there are still hurdles ahead for the tax overhaul to become law.
House Republicans sailed their tax reform bill through the chamber on Thursday. But the broader Republican push to overhaul the federal tax code still looks like it could be in trouble — due to problems on the other side of Capitol Hill.
On Wednesday, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the first Republican senator to come out publicly as a "no" vote for the current version of the chamber's Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
But his skepticism isn't unique: A handful of GOP senators have wavered on the proposal. With only a 52-seat majority in the chamber, Senate Republican leaders have little room for error — and a lot of people to win over.
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Finance Committee, however, is working through their markup of the bill, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is still shooting for a full vote on the bill the week after Thanksgiving.
"If Senate passage is truly jeopardized, the Republicans may have only one option — make the bill palatable to a handful of moderate Democrats," Valliere said. "But there would be a price to pay: a final tax bill that's far less generous to the wealthy and corporations than the measure" that passed the House Thursday.
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