Sen. Roy Blunt R-Mo. was bullish about Republicans’ chances of passing their tax overhaul plan despite a number of GOP senators saying they aren’t sure they’ll support the proposal.
The House is expected to vote on its plan this week and the Senate unveiled its own version Thursday. The Senate is constrained by budget rules, unlike the House. In order to pass the tax bill under reconciliation, a tool that allows Republicans to pass the bill with a simple majority of votes, the Senate bill cannot add to the deficit at all after 10 years.
“We will have the votes,” said Blunt, a member of GOP leadership. “We’re highly motivated to do this.”
“Once we get 50 Republicans we’ll have three or four Democrats vote for this as well,” Blunt said on Fox News.
“They’re just not going to vote for it as long as there’s a chance that Republicans will once again be embarrassed by not getting something this important to our agenda and the economy done.”
Blunt admitted there are a lot of moving parts but remained confident that Republicans would pass a tax overhaul by year’s end.
Republicans are worried that failure to pass their tax plan would result in devastating election losses in 2018.
The GOP has not had any substantial policy wins since President Trump entered the White House in January.
