Senate GOP Poised to Muscle Through $1.5 Trillion Tax Revamp After Days of Frenzied Jockeying

WASHINGTON -- Republicans on Friday overcame frenzied intraparty jockeying to reach the brink of muscling a $1.5 trillion tax cut through the Senate, a milestone that would move them ever closer to overhauling the nation’s tax code for the first time in three decades.All but one Republican senator announced support for the far-reaching legislation, leaving the GOP poised to pass the bill without Democratic support either late Friday or early Saturday.The tenuous coalition emerged amid significant bill changes, some offered in handwriting hours before the expected final vote. That backing came only after key conservatives, including Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, rebuffed concerns from some deficit hawks over the plan’s yawning fiscal gap.And the Texan, who didn’t hesitate to claim victory over instead helping secure even steeper tax cuts, remained adamant about his lofty goal of “cutting taxes for every taxpayer across America."“Larding the bill up with new tax increases would’ve been going in the wrong direction,” Cruz said.  Continue reading...