 Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other Senate GOP leaders talk with reporters Tuesday. Rep. Kevin Brady, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, made his comments Tuesday as Senate Republican leaders pushed to pass their bill this week. The Senate Budget Committee has advanced a sweeping tax package to the full Senate, handing GOP leaders a victory as they try to pass the nation's first tax overhaul in 31 years. But after President Donald Trump personally lobbied Republican senators at the Capitol Tuesday, the committee passed the bill with little fanfare other than a few protesters who tried to disrupt the committee meeting. Another critical Republican swing vote — Sen. Susan Collins of Maine — is seeking several provisions before she is willing to endorse the tax bill, including passage of separate legislation to stabilize the health insurance markets. The moderate senator also said in an interview earlier Tuesday that she wants the top individual tax rate to remain at the current 39.6 percent, restore the state and local tax deduction on property taxes to aid those in high-tax states, and make the child care tax credit refundable “so it would help lower-income working families.” 
 
 Tax Reform: Who Pays What? Brady has previously said that repealing the so-called individual mandate under the Obama health care law was politically risky. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., right, with Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., left, and Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., speaks about tax reform, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
– The Senate Budget Committee has advanced a sweeping tax package to the full Senate, handing GOP leaders a victory as they try to pass the nation's first tax overhaul in 31 years. The committee voted 12 to 11 to advance the bill. Two committee Republicans had said they were considering voting against the measure, but after President Trump personally lobbied Republican senators at the Capitol Tuesday, the committee passed the bill with little fanfare other than a few protesters who tried to disrupt the committee meeting, per the AP. GOP leaders hope to have the full Senate take up the bill later this week, though Politico reports that they were still scrambling to appease critics within their own ranks. The tax package blends a sharp reduction in top corporate and business tax rates with more modest relief for individuals. White House press chief Sarah Huckabee said Trump applauds the committee for "taking an important step toward passing historic tax relief and reform and clearing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act this afternoon." She added that the president "looks forward to providing tax cuts for hardworking Americans by the end of the year."