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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
- The Senate voted to begin debate on the massive GOP tax bill on Wednesday.
- Twenty hours of debate will follow, with a final vote expected sometime on Friday.
- The prospects for the bill have been dramatically improving over the past few days.
The Senate on Wednesday voted to begin the final process of debate on the massive Republican attempt to overhaul the federal tax code.
The procedural step, called a motion to proceed, passed the Senate on a party-line vote of 52 to 48.
The Senate will now begin 20 hours of debate on the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act before what's called a vote-a-rama. The vote-a-rama, in which senators can introduce as many amendments to the bill as they want, is expected Thursday night.
After the amendment process, which Democrats will attempt to use to slow down the bill, there will be a final vote. The current timeline sets up a final vote sometime on Friday.
The TCJA is being moved through the Senate at breakneck speed. It is still missing final details, a full score of the bill from the Joint Committee on Taxation, and a full report from the Senate parliamentarian.
The speed has helped to improve the prospects of the TCJA, as a slew of changes hinted at by Republican senators appear to be winning over some members.
Changes to the treatment of so-called pass through entities and changes to the state and local tax deduction are both being discussed to win over GOP skeptics.
One of the biggest changes, designed to win over a handful of GOP lawmakers concerned about the federal deficit, would be a "trigger" that would kick in if the economic growth expected to come form the bill does not materialize. Based on reports, the details of the trigger clause are still being worked out.
Another possibility being discussed is paying for some of these changes by cutting the corporate tax rate to 21% or 22% instead of the 20% in the version of the TCJA passed by the Senate Finance Committee. This would likely draw the ire of President Donald Trump, who has made the 20% rate his red line in the tax reform fight.
While the actual text of the bill is still fluid, time is running out for Republican leaders to win over any hold outs as the vote quickly approaches. The efforts appear to be working.
A possible hold out, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, announced Wednesday that she would vote for the TCJA.
"After thoroughly reviewing the good work of the Finance Committee, I intend to support the reconciliation legislation that is now before the Senate," Murkowski said in a statement.