WASHINGTON (AP) – The Latest on the Republican tax overhaul(all times local):
12:25 p.m.
The sweeping tax overhaul in Congress just got a boost from a key faction of the party. Conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus say they support the package, which is speeding toward votes next week.
Ohio congressman Jim Jordan is a member of the caucus. Jordan says, “I think it’s going to pass. I think you’re going to see the vast majority of the Freedom Caucus people vote for it.”
Caucus leader Mark Meadows of North Carolina says he doesn’t see “any alarm bells” in the emerging package.
The Freedom Caucus is a key constituency for House GOP leaders because it has more than 30 members, and a united caucus could kill any bill that lacks Democratic support. Congressional Democrats were shut out from crafting the tax package and have been united against it.
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3:43 a.m.
Generous tax cuts for corporations and the wealthiest Americans would be delivered in a sweeping overhaul of the tax laws, under a new agreement crafted by Republicans in Congress.
Middle- and low-income families would receive smaller tax cuts, though President Donald Trump and Republican leaders have billed the package as a huge benefit for the middle class. The agreement reached Wednesday by House and Senate GOP leaders also calls for scrapping a major tax requirement of the “Obamacare” health law, a step toward the ultimate GOP goal of unraveling the law.
The agreement combines key elements of separate tax bills recently passed by the House and Senate, striking compromises on some of them. The Republicans are pushing to deliver final legislation to Trump before Christmas as the first major legislative accomplishment of his presidency.