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Senate Approves Its Tax Bill; Conference Awaits

Early Saturday morning, the Senate approved by a vote of 51 to 49 its version of the tax overhaul bill.  In the end, Bob Corker (R-TN) was the only Republican to join all Democrats in opposing the legislation.

The Senate leadership was making last-minute changes to the bill to win over a number of possible Republican holdouts, including Susan Collins (ME), Jeff Flake (Arizona), Ron Johnson (WI), and Steve Daines (MT).  Democrats complained about the process that was to used to draft the original bill as well as the one that was used to make changes, including arguing that amendments were being written in by hand at the last minute.

The two chambers of Congress must now work out the differences between the two versions of the bill.  The House is expected to formally call for a conference later today.

Read more here, and here.