Senate Republicans are hoping to pass their tax legislation late Thursday night, the No. 2 GOP lawmaker said late Thursday afternoon, even as they continued to work out the kinks in their revised bill.
Texas Sen. John Cornyn, the Republican whip, told reporters that the amended bill would be released as soon as the Senate parliamentarian, responsible for ensuring that legislation complies with the upper chamber’s rules, gives it an all-clear.
Cornyn added that the bill could be passed by 11 p.m., “if we’re lucky.”
The timing would depend on the level of resistance from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who could allow his party to tie up the bill with amendments.
“If he wants to do it the hard way, then we’ll be here until very late and maybe even tomorrow,” Cornyn said.
Passing legislation Thursday would entail several major amendments planned by Republicans being voted on soon.
One of the main outstanding issues for the parliamentarian to go over was the possibility of a “debt trigger” that would scale back the tax cuts in case the debt rose faster than Republicans project.
Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee and other Republican deficit hawks had sought that measure. It had yet to be unveiled as of Thursday afternoon, however, and Corker and others remained quiet about its status.
In the meantime, Republicans fended off repeated attempts from Democrats to vote the tax bill back to committee.
