After a planned series of votes on the Trump tax plan were called off last night, GOP senators were scrambling to assuage the concerns of Republican holdouts who suddenly decided that the tax bill would blow out the deficit after one proposal – a so-called “trigger” that would automatically raise taxes if revenue targets aren’t met – was rejected by the Senate Parliamentarian. With the first roll-call vote set for 11 am, Republican leaders were scrambling to have amendments of their own lined up for later in the day, with a vote hoped for by late Friday or early Saturday.
And while global stocks and US futures slid overnight on bill jitters, “risk on” euphoria promptly returned when in the latest Friday morning developments, Senators Steve Daines and Ron Johnson both said they would support the Republican bill following a plan to raise the pass-through deduction – a tax tool overwhelmingly used by small businesses – to 23%.
The news sent stock futures surging, mirroring a bump from last night when Sen. John McCain announced that he would vote for the bill, defying speculation that he would instead vote to kill it.
The reason for the surge: if Daines, Collins, and McCain stick to their commitments to back the tax bill -and now Johnson joins – and no one besides Flake and Corker vote against it, the Republican Senate should have enough votes to pass the tax bill.
That said, keep an eye on McCain…
