The Senate voted to begin debate on its tax cut bill Wednesday, edging Republicans closer to their first major legislative victory under President Trump as they seek to finish the chamber’s work on the measure by the end of the week.

Senators voted 52-48 to take up the House-passed legislation, which is being used as a vehicle for the Senate bill.

No Republicans voted against proceeding to debate, a huge accomplishment for GOP leaders who struggled earlier this year to corral their members around legislation to repeal and replace ObamaCare. No Democrats voted for the measure.

GOP Sens. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsGOP in furious push for tax-reform votes Rand Paul to vote for Senate GOP tax bill The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill MORE (Maine), Steve DainesSteven (Steve) David DainesTrump: Dems ‘want big tax increases’ GOP Senate ‘no’ votes float tax-reform fix GOP in furious push for tax-reform votes MORE (Mont.) and Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeGOP in furious push for tax-reform votes The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill Dictionary.com picks ‘complicit’ as 2017 word of the year MORE (Ariz.) all said they would agree to start debate before it began, despite various worries about the legislation.

In another sign of GOP momentum, Sen. Lisa MurkowskiLisa Ann MurkowskiGOP in furious push for tax-reform votes The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill This week: Senate Republicans take up tax reform MORE (Alaska) said she would vote for the tax package — and that she would help manage the floor debate given a section of the bill that would open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellGOP Senate ‘no’ votes float tax-reform fix Women, Dems leading sexual harassment discussion in Congress: analysis FreedomWatch sues to remove Mueller MORE (R-Ky.) urged senators to vote to start debate, promising they’d have time to amend the bill on the Senate floor.


“I encourage any member who thinks that we need to fix the problems of our outdated tax code to vote to proceed to the legislation,” he said in a floor speech. “I urge them to vote for the motion to proceed and offer their amendments. … The bottom line is this: we must vote to begin debate.”


Trump, a day after visiting the GOP conference, sold the bill on Wednesday during a stop in Missouri, where Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskillClaire Conner McCaskillFranken seeks to head off calls for resignation ‘Fed up’ women voters are preparing to run for political office Lawmakers take to Twitter to spread the Thanksgiving cheer MORE is up for reelection.


“This week’s vote can be the beginning of the next great chapter for the American worker,” he said, adding that the tax cuts would ensure a “merry Christmas” for the country.

The GOP’s goal is to get a final bill to Trump’s desk by the end of the year, which would give him and his party a significant win at the end of a difficult year.

If the Senate can approve its legislation this week, Congress would have the month of December to work out differences between the Senate and House bills.

The vote starts the clock on 20 hours of additional debate on the tax legislation before a freewheeling “vote-a-rama.”

During that process, any senator can demand a vote on any amendment, with hundreds of potential changes typically being filed. The vote-a-rama is expected to take place on Thursday. Several senators who could make or break the tax plan remain on the fence, despite agreeing to start debate.

It appears these Republicans are likely to vote for the final bill, though thorny talks about how to safeguard GOP economic estimates that the bill will not bust the budget could be a problem.

Deficit hawks — led by Sens. Bob CorkerRobert (Bob) Phillips CorkerGOP in furious push for tax-reform votes Two Budget Committee GOP senators threaten to vote against tax bill State Dept official in charge of Tillerson’s agency overhaul resigns after three months MORE (R-Tenn.) and James LankfordJames Paul LankfordGOP in furious push for tax-reform votes The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill Senate vote on tax cut looms next week MORE (R-Okla.) — want to include a  “trigger” that would increase taxes if the economic growth Republicans are predicting will pay for their tax plan falls short.

The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that the Senate bill would add about $1.4 trillion to the deficit in its first 10 years before taking economic effects into account. Republican leaders say they expect increased economic growth to create additional revenues that would offset some or all of the deficit increases.

Corker before the procedural vote said they have a deal “in principle” but declined to go into details until the agreement was locked down in writing.

Asked if he would support the legislation without the fiscal backstop, he said that the “trigger is very important to me.”



“I think each of us has to understand in a bill like this there are going to be things you like and things you don’t. You’ve got to decide on balance if it’s better for the country,” he said.

The idea of a trigger has sparked a backlash among conservatives and outside groups, who oppose allowing tax hikes to snap into place.

Sen. Dean HellerDean Arthur HellerKeeping guns out of the hands of domestic abusers will prevent more senseless tragedies The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill Another perfect storm: Why we must act before flood insurance runs dry MORE (R-Nev.), who is facing a competitive reelection race next year, expressed concerns that a trigger would undermine tax certainty businesses need to make investments.



“I do not support triggers,” he said at an event hosted by groups — backed by GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch — which oppose the idea. “I think it takes away the kind of certainty that we have put in this bill through the efforts of the Finance Committee over the last three months.”


Leaving a closed-door caucus lunch, members floated a backstop that would enact automatic spending cuts. But Corker said on Wednesday evening that the “trigger” would be limited to automatic tax increases, though the details of the agreement were still being worked out. 

Meanwhile, GOP Sens. Ron JohnsonRonald (Ron) Harold JohnsonTrump: Dems ‘want big tax increases’ GOP Senate ‘no’ votes float tax-reform fix GOP in furious push for tax-reform votes MORE (Wis.) and Daines have pushed for more parity between corporations and pass-through businesses.

Pass-throughs are businesses, such as partnerships and sole proprietorships, that have their income taxed through the individual system on their owner’s returns. Many small businesses are pass-throughs.

Just before voting, Daines said that the pass-through deduction would be increased from 17.4 percent to 20 percent, by not allowing big companies to deduct state and local taxes. He said the Senate Finance Committee has worked out a plan for paying for the larger deduction.

Collins said she is a “yes” on starting debate after winning a commitment from McConnell to include funding for ObamaCare’s cost-sharing reduction payments and reinsurance in a must-pass bill by the end of the year.

“I still would prefer that the individual mandate [repeal] were not in the bill,” she said of the tax bill’s elimination of ObamaCare’s mandate that people buy insurance. “It complicates this whole issue and when you pull one piece of the Affordable Care Act out it has an impact on premiums.”

Sens. Mike LeeMichael (Mike) Shumway LeeGOP tax agenda is a grave threat to people in poverty The Hill’s Whip List: Where Republicans stand on Senate tax bill Congress poised to jam through reauthorization of mass surveillance MORE (R-Utah) and Marco RubioMarco Antonio RubioFranken seeks to head off calls for resignation GOP tax agenda is a grave threat to people in poverty Rubio: Al Franken ‘should consider resigning’ MORE (R-Fla.) said they plan to offer an amendment that would further expand the child tax credit and pay for it by bringing the corporate rate in the bill from 20 percent to 22 percent. The White House said it opposes the amendment’s increase in the bill’s corporate rate. The corporate rate is currently 35 percent.

This story was updated at 6:44 p.m.

A gunman with a hostage opened fire from the eighth floor of a luxury high-rise condominium in Reno onto the streets below, authorities said. No injuries were reported.

The man died Tuesday night after a SWAT team descended on him while he was barricaded at the Montage condo complex, Reno Police Deputy Chief Tom Robinson told reporters. It wasn’t immediately clear whether he was killed by police gunfire or his own. No one else, including the hostage, was hurt.

The gunman’s name has not been released. Robinson described him only as a young adult.

The luxury high-rise is surrounded by some of downtown Reno’s most popular casinos, and the gunfire brought eerie echoes of the Las Vegas shooting two months earlier that killed 58 people and injured hundreds more.

Stephen Paddock, the man who opened fire Oct. 1 from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas onto an outdoor concert below, had owned a unit at the Montage. Records show he sold the property in December 2016.

“When you heard it’s coming from above, it reminds you of the guy shooting from Mandalay Bay,” said Mike Pavicich, who was in town on business from Las Vegas and was standing atop a parking garage at the neighboring Eldorado Resort Casino when the shots rang out.

“It’s scary, you know?” Pavicich told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “This is the same kind of town.”

Tampa police said Tuesday night they had arrested a 24-year-old man and that he would be charged with murder in four shooting deaths in the Seminole Heights neighborhood that had stoked fears of a serial killer in the area. 

Howell Emanuel Donaldson III, 24, will be charged with four counts of first degree, premeditated murder in the killings of Benjamin Edward Mitchell, Monica Caridad Hoffa, Anthony Naiboa and Ronald Felton, Tampa police chief Brian Dugan said in a press conference Tuesday.

Donaldson was taken into custody Tuesday afternoon at a McDonald’s after another employee said he handed a gun to a manager, who then reached out to an officer in the building, CBS affiliate WTSP reports. 

“When I think I found out there was a gun, and when we looked at his description, it was a little ore than what we really had,” Dugan said. “It just felt right. I kinda had a feeling that we were going to get a break.”

Investigators are still determining Donaldson’s connection to the neighborhood, Dugan said.

“We’re not sure why he was in this neighborhood,” he said. “We’re not aware what he ties are and we don’t know what his motive is. But there is a lot more to go.”

Police have been searching for the person – or people – responsible for shooting and killing four in the Seminole Heights neighborhood since Oct. 9. Police have said the shootings happened within close proximity to one another, aren’t robberies and could be the work of a serial killer. 

Police had increased patrols in the neighborhood and released surveillance videos of a hooded suspect. In a security video taken moments after 22-year-old Benjamin Mitchell became the first victim on Oct. 9, the suspect is running from the scene.  

“I’ve come up with four reasons why this person is running,” Dugan said last month. “One, they may be late for dinner. Two, they’re out exercising. Three, they heard gunshots. And number four, they just murdered Benjamin Mitchell.”

Two days after Mitchell was shot, Monica Hoffa, 32, was gunned down. And on Oct. 19, Anthony Naiboa, 20, was shot after taking the wrong bus home from his new job. Police patrolling nearby heard the gunshots and rushed to the scene to find Naiboa dead.

Police found the body of Ronald Felton, 60, in the street on Nov. 14.  Police said Felton had been walking across the street to meet someone when the gunman came up behind him and fired.   

Seminole Heights is a working-class neighborhood northeast of downtown Tampa that’s slowly becoming gentrified. Run-down homes sit next to renovated, historic bungalows, and trendy restaurants have sprung up near auto body shops.

Residents and business owners have said there are car burglaries and fights between kids, but nothing like this. 

The department has received more than 5,000 tips. Dugan says he’s optimistic but acknowledged previous leads have led to nothing.

Donaldson’s arrest happened during the kick off for the first annual “Light the Heights” event, WTSP reports. 

The holiday-themed effort to light every home with Christmas lights is the latest to brighten up the area with light – as well as some holiday cheer.

“We have a goal of having every house in our neighborhood lit up to bring a positive light to our neighborhood,” organizer Courtney Bumgarnar told WTSP. 

Stocks in Europe gained, following U.S. equities and most Asian benchmarks higher as optimism over U.S. tax reform overshadowed concerns about North Korea’s latest missile launch. The British pound strengthened after the U.K. cleared a major Brexit hurdle.

The Stoxx Europe 600 Index headed for a three-week high, with most industry sectors in the green. Banks outperformed following a rally in U.S. lenders after Federal Reserve chair nominee Jerome Powell signaled he isn’t inclined to add to financial regulations. Asian stocks were mixed earlier, with gauges in Tokyo and Australia advancing while equities in Seoul dropped. U.S. benchmarks rose on Tuesday as the Senate budget committee advanced the Republican tax bill.

Elsewhere, U.K. gilts fell, the FTSE 100 stock index dropped and sterling jumped to a two-month high after Brexit negotiators agreed to an outline divorce deal. The dollar weakened and core European bonds declined with U.S. Treasuries. The euro gained as data from Germany’s regions showed inflation accelerating. Crude oil fell for a third day as U.S. inventories expanded before OPEC meets to decide on prolonging supply cuts past the end of March. Industrial metals extended a slide.

In Asia, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his regime completed its nuclear program after firing a missile that put the entire U.S. in range. The launch shattered a two-month period of relative quiet in its first provocation since U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision this month to label the country a state sponsor of terrorism. Trump responded that “we will take care of that situation.”

A woman with ties to a right-wing activist group falsely claimed to The Washington Post that she had conceived a child with Roy S. Moore, the Republican Senate candidate in Alabama, when she was 15, the newspaper reported on Monday afternoon.

The woman, identified by the paper as Jaime T. Phillips, claimed in recent interviews with reporters that she had an abortion after having sex with Mr. Moore in 1992. But The Post said that it had discovered inconsistencies in her account and evidence that the woman concocted the sensational claim to try to dupe reporters and coax them into discussing the political impact her story could have on Mr. Moore.

A reporter with The Post confronted the woman about the holes in her story on Wednesday and then Post journalists saw her on Monday morning entering the offices of Project Veritas, a conservative group that films undercover videos. The organization, led by the activist James O’Keefe, has recently targeted journalists, trying to goad them into revealing biases or unethical schemes to discredit the news media.

“The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap,” Martin Baron, the executive editor at The Post, was quoted as saying. “Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled.”

A reporter and a videographer with The Post questioned Mr. O’Keefe on Monday outside his group’s office in Mamaroneck, N.Y., about Ms. Phillips’s apparent connections with Project Veritas.

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“I am not doing an interview right now, so I’m not going to say a word,” Mr. O’Keefe responded.

Ms. Phillips first contacted The Post in a mysterious email on Nov. 9, the newspaper reported. It was sent just hours after the newspaper had published a story about Leigh Corfman, who said she was 14 years old when Mr. Moore, then 32, engaged in a sexual encounter with her. “Roy Moore in Alabama,’’ the email to a Post reporter read, according to the story. “I might know something but I need to keep myself safe.”

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The lawyer for President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn met Monday morning with members of special counsel Robert Mueller’s team — the latest indication that both sides are discussing a possible plea deal, ABC News has learned.

Trump’s legal team confirmed late last week that Flynn’s attorney Robert Kelner alerted the team that he could no longer engage in privileged discussions about defense strategy in the case — a sign Flynn is preparing to negotiate with prosecutors over a deal that could include his testimony against the president or senior White House officials.

That process would typically include a series of off-the-record discussions in which prosecutors lay out in detail for Flynn and his lawyers the fruits of their investigation into his activities. Prosecutors would also provide Flynn an opportunity to offer what’s called a proffer, detailing what information, if any, he has that could implicate others in wrongdoing.

When reached Monday, Kelner declined to comment on the nature of his morning visit to Mueller’s offices in Washington, D.C.

Sources familiar with the discussions between Flynn’s legal team and Trump’s attorneys told ABC News that while there was never a formal, signed joint defense agreement between Flynn’s defense counsel and other targets of the Mueller probe, the lawyers had engaged in privileged discussions for months.

Jay Sekulow, a member of Trump’s legal team, told ABC News last week that the break was “not entirely unexpected.”

“No one should draw the conclusion that this means anything about Gen. Flynn cooperating against the president,” Sekulow said.

The New York Times broke the news, calling it an indication that Flynn may be cooperating with prosecutors.

Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/AFP via Getty Images

Sources familiar with the Flynn investigation have told ABC News the retired lieutenant general has felt increased pressure since prosecutors began focusing attention on his son, Michael G. Flynn, who worked as part of the Flynn Intel Group, the consulting firm founded by the elder Flynn, a former head of the Defense Intelligence Agency. Michael G. Flynn also traveled with his father to Russia in 2015 for his now famous appearance at a Moscow dinner where he sat next to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Democrats in Congress have told ABC News they forwarded information to the Mueller team alleging that Michael T. Flynn illegally concealed more than a dozen foreign contacts and overseas trips during the process of renewing his security clearances.

“It appears that General Flynn violated federal law by omitting this trip and these foreign contacts from his security clearance renewal application in 2016 and concealing them from security clearance investigators who interviewed him as part of the background check process,” Reps. Elijah Cummings and Eliot L. Engel, both Democrats, wrote in a letter to Flynn’s attorney.

The letter highlights information House investigators collected from executives at three private companies advised by Flynn in 2015 and 2016. The companies were pursuing a joint venture with Russia to bring nuclear power to several Middle Eastern countries and secure the resulting nuclear fuel before Flynn joined then-candidate Trump on the campaign trail.

Flynn is a decorated military officer who served as director of the Defense Intelligence Agency from 2012 until his retirement in 2014. He was out of the spotlight only briefly. He joined the Trump campaign as an adviser in 2016, and Trump later named Flynn as his first national security adviser. He was forced to resign, however, after just 24 days on the job, when it was revealed that he misled Vice President Mike Pence about his conversations with Russian officials during the presidential transition.

Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images, FILE

Cummings told ABC News that Flynn’s foreign contacts — which involved high-ranking foreign officials and business executives — were so numerous they could not have been inadvertent omissions or incidental contacts.

“He has, over and over again, omitted information that he should have disclosed,” Cummings said. “It’s not an aberration, and that’s clear.

Flynn’s lawyer has declined to comment on the letter, and when ABC News tracked down Flynn this summer at a beach in Newport, Rhode Island — his hometown — he didn’t say much more.

“I’m just having a great time with the family here,” Flynn said. “I’m doing good, [but] I’m not going to make any comments.”

The alleged omissions could be a serious matter — and not just for Flynn. While Cummings said intentionally omitting foreign contacts when applying for security clearance can carry a five-year prison term, he acknowledged that penalties are rarely so severe. The leverage the alleged transgressions provide, however, could prove useful to prosecutors seeking to use the threat of prosecution to compel Flynn’s assistance in the broader investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Former FBI Director James Comey provided a window into that strategy during his three hours of testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this year.

“There is always a possibility if you have a criminal case against someone and you bring them in, squeeze them, flip them, [that] they give you information about something else,” Comey said.

The alleged omissions are just the latest to make trouble for Flynn. He failed to declare a December 2015 trip to Russia, where he sat next to Putin and for which was paid $33,000. In March 2017, Flynn submitted a late filing with the Department of Justice under the Foreign Agent Registration Act, revealing that the Flynn Intel Group was paid $530,000 for three months of work on behalf of a Dutch firm owned by a Turkish businessman with close ties to the Turkish government.

Susan Walsh/AP Photo, FILE

Flynn’s work for Turkey remains the subject of additional scrutiny. Of interest to federal agents, according to people interviewed by the FBI, is his alleged role in a bizarre, unrealized proposal first reported by The Wall Street Journal to kidnap Turkish dissident cleric Fethullah Gulen, who is living in exile in rural Pennsylvania and is suspected of involvement in a failed coup attempt.

Gulen, who has denied involvement in the coup attempt, has lived legally in the Pocono Mountains since 1999, and the Turkish government has been financing efforts to persuade the U.S. government to return him to Turkey for years.

Former CIA Director James Woolsey confirmed for ABC News he was at a meeting in which Flynn allegedly raised the idea.

“It became clear to me that they were seriously considering a kidnapping operation for Gulen, and I told them then that it was a bad idea, it was illegal,” Woolsey said. “I won’t say that they had firmly decided to do that. But they were seriously considering it.”

Kelner, Flynn’s lawyer, took the rare step of publicly refuting those assertions, saying there was no such discussion and calling them categorically “false.” In mid-July at a press conference, the Turkish ambassador to the U.S. also denied the notion of a kidnapping plot.

“There’s no truth to that,” he said, adding that the Turkish government was following “traditional” procedures to have Gulen extradited “through the legal channels.”

ABC News’ John Santucci contributed to this report.

At the heart of the debate is whether to more favorably treat small businesses and other so-called pass-through entities — businesses whose profits are distributed to their owners and taxed at rates for individuals. Seventy percent of pass-through income flows to the top 1 percent of American earners, according to research by Owen Zidar, an economist at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.

Two Republican senators, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Steve Daines of Montana, have said that they will vote against the plan if it does not do more to help the owners of those businesses, possibly by increasing the individual income tax deduction for such owners from the 17.4 percent rate currently in the Senate bill.

Republicans, who control the Senate 52 to 48, can afford to lose only two of their members if they hope to pass the bill on party lines in the upper chamber.

Mr. Johnson could stall the bill by himself on Tuesday, when it is scheduled for a vote in the Senate Budget Committee. Mr. Johnson sits on that committee, where Republicans have a single-vote majority. On Monday, he said he would vote “no” unless his concerns were addressed.

“I need a fix beforehand,” Mr. Johnson said.

Earlier in the day, Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and the majority whip, said, “There’s no deal, but there’s been some discussions on how to address Senator Johnson and Senator Daines’s concerns.” He continued, “We’re trying to be responsive.”

Adding to the uncertainty, Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee also said on Monday that he could be a “no” vote in the Budget Committee if his concerns about the bill’s effect on the deficit were not adequately addressed.

Orrin G. Hatch, Republican of Utah, who leads the Senate Finance Committee, said that there was a strong desire to get a bill passed by Friday and that additional changes would most likely be made on the Senate floor. Despite speculation that the House will face pressure to quickly vote upon whatever passes in the Senate, Senator Rob Portman, Republican of Ohio, said he “fully expects” that there would be a conference to bridge differences between the House and Senate plans.

The pass-through fight is the first skirmish in what lawmakers and lobbyists expect will be a frenzied week, which Republican leaders hope will produce the first major legislative victory of the Trump-era for their party.

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The week is expected to be punctuated by behind-the-scenes arm twisting and deal making as party leaders work to allay senators’ worries without exceeding their self-imposed $1.5 trillion budget for tax cuts. At least a half-dozen senators have raised concerns about the bill, including its potential to add to the federal deficit and a provision that would eliminate the Affordable Care Act requirement that most Americans have health insurance or pay a penalty.

Many of those senators are in discussions with party leaders over how to tweak the bill to address their concerns. James Lankford, Republican of Oklahoma, said on Monday that he was in talks over a proposal meant to ensure the tax plan did not balloon the deficit. Mr. Lankford said the Senate was discussing inserting a provision that would lead to tax increases — as yet unspecified — after a period of years if federal revenues fell short of lawmakers’ projections.

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“To me,” Mr. Lankford said, “the big issue is how are we dealing with debt and deficit, do we have realistic numbers, and is there a backstop in the process just in case we don’t?”

Mr. Corker and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona, who has also expressed concerns about the bill’s costs, said on Monday that they were similarly interested in some type of trigger or backstop.

Some other senators’ concerns appear less likely to be addressed. Mike Lee of Utah and Marco Rubio of Florida, for example, appear to be making little progress in persuading party leaders to expand access to the child tax credit for low-income families, by allowing the credit to be refundable against payroll tax liability. Such a move would allow working parents who do not currently face income tax liability to still benefit from the expanded credit envisioned in the bill.

On Monday, several Republicans from the Senate Finance Committee, including Mr. Hatch, emerged from a lunch with President Trump at the White House saying that they were confident they would have the necessary votes to pass the package this week and would be able to resolve differences with the House version so that the bill could be signed into law in short order.

“We’re generally able to get together and solve these problems,” Mr. Hatch said of the House and Senate.

White House officials privately said that they hoped the two chambers could resolve their differences privately and informally to avoid a potentially lengthy and divisive formal conference that typically is needed to complete major legislation.

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Asked whether the legislation could be completed by Christmas, Mr. Hatch said, “I hope so.”

He added that Democrats should “get off their duffs” and support the plan. Mr. Trump, for his part, said later in the day that he was not interested in getting Democratic support.

At an event in the Oval Office honoring Navajo code talkers from World War II, Mr. Trump boasted that the package would be “a tremendous tax cut, the biggest in the history of our country” and predicted that there would be “great receptivity” to it.

“If we win, we’ll get some Democratic senators joining us,” he said. “But I’m not so interested in that. We’re really interested just in getting it passed.”

Mr. Trump is expected to go to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to have lunch with Republican senators before meeting with the top congressional leaders from both parties in the afternoon.

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