"The [JCT] score ends the fantasy about magical growth, about unicorns and growth fairies showing that tax cuts pay for themselves", Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of OR said.

-Senate Republicans steamed toward passage of a $1.4 trillion tax bill Friday, overcoming eleventh-hour hitches in their drive to deliver a major legislative accomplishment to President Trump by Christmas. GOP leaders have been making major changes up to the last minute, including one that would roll back some of the tax cuts after six years to appease deficit hawks.

Another faction to be reckoned with: senators supporting millions of businesses whose owners report the firm's profits on their individual tax returns.

The Republican tax Bill would represent the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax system since the 1980s.

US Senate Republicans said on Friday (Dec 1) they had gathered the votes needed to pass a sweeping tax overhaul, after last-minute negotiations to ease some senators' concerns about the Bill's impact on the federal deficit, health care and property taxes. The amendment would raise how much these businesses could deduct off the top of their tax bill, from the 17.4 percent now in the Senate bill to 23 percent.

Corker was skeptical, but voted in the Budget Committee on Tuesday to send the tax bill to the floor after saying he had assurances from Senate leaders the bill would be revised to include a "trigger" that would automatically raise taxes if anticipated economic growth did not materialize.

Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Marco Rubio, R-Fla., said the bill as now constructed gives too much of its benefits to corporations and that their plan to make the $2,000 credit fully refundable to low-income families "would level the playing field for families, while still kick-starting national investment and growth". He can afford to lose only two votes while counting on Vice President Mike Pence to break the tie.

In a dramatic turn, Democrats forced a vote on whether to return the measure to the Senate Finance Committee so it could be rewritten to ensure smaller deficits.

Corker has pushed to add automatic tax increases in future years if the package doesn't raise as much revenue as projected. It would slash the corporate tax rate, offer more modest cuts for families and individuals and eliminate several popular deductions.

Garrison Keillor fired by Minnesota Public Radio over allegations of improper behavior
MPR said the allegation stemmed from Keillor's conduct when he was producing and hosting " A Prairie Home Companion ". MPR said it retained an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegation against Keillor.

"Other countries have learned how to use their tax codes to entice US businesses overseas, businesses around the globe, to their country - to move away from the United States to their countries' more competitive tax code", Republican Senator Cory Gardner of Colorado said.

The Arizona conservative announced in a statement on Friday that he would vote for the tax bill.

The corporate rates would become permanent, while the individual rate cuts would expire in 2025.

Because the House passed a different tax-slashing bill, the probable effect of Senate approval - provided the House doesn't pass the Senate's version - would be a conference committee in which lawmakers from both chambers fashion a compromise that could include elements of either bill.

Oklahoma's Lankford came aboard on Friday after having questioned whether tax revenues from economic growth would compensate for the expected increase in the national debt under the plan. That's far short of the $2 trillion promised by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin.

Senate Armed Services Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., arrives for votes on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday evening, November 27, 2017.

The GOP has already secured support from two other key votes: Sens.

Senators were still grappling with several issues, including a provision to add a deduction for local property taxes.

A key House Republican said that any stopgap spending to avert a government shutdown December 8 should keep the government open into January instead of rushing work on an omnibus spending bill in hopes of beating a Christmas deadline. Both the Senate and House bills end deductibility of state and local tax income and sales tax. McCain said he would vote for the bill Thursday evening.