McCain endorses budget bill in win for GOP tax-reform effort

By Elise Viebeck October 17 at 6:28 PM

Senate Republicans desperate to pass tax cuts as a way to salvage their deadlocked legislative agenda earned a series of much-needed victories Tuesday, raising GOP hopes of approving legislation this week that will lay the groundwork for rate cuts later.

As President Trump prepared to promote tax reform in a speech Tuesday night, Senate Republicans won over a key holdout on the budget resolution, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), and welcomed back Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), whose absence due to illness had threatened to derail the bill.

“I support the Senate budget resolution because it provides a path forward on tax reform,” McCain said in a statement. “I have long supported efforts to fix our burdensome tax system and hope Congress will produce meaningful reform that simplifies the tax code, strengthens America’s middle class and boosts our economy.”

These developments were seen as positive signs for the resolution, which lays out Republicans’ spending priorities and would enable them to approve tax cuts on a simple-majority vote, without support from Democrats. This is a crucial step in a closely divided Senate, where few if any Democrats are expected to support tax cuts.

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