Senate GOP hustles to meet tax bill holdouts’ demands

Senate Republicans are stepping quickly to meet competing demands of holdout GOP senators for a tax overhaul package expected to add $1 trillion to the nation's deficit over 10 years. The Republicans eye a crucial final vote Friday on the $1.4 trillion Senate bill carrying the hopes of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party to preserve their majorities in next year's elections.

Hassan criticizes GOP tax plan while hers gains little traction NEW

U.S. Sen. Maggie Hassan called the Republican-authored federal tax overhaul a "travesty," but her own proposal to lower taxes for middle-class families has gotten little traction. No Democrats or Republicans have signed onto legislation she filed in September to give a $500 tax credit to individuals making less than $100,000 a year.

Pence: Trump ‘actively considering’ relocation of US Embassy to Jerusalem

President Donald Trump is "actively considering" how to follow through on his pledge to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, Vice President Mike Pence said Tuesday, reopening a divisive question that puts the president at odds with military and diplomatic advisers and close allies. Pence drew whoops and applause at an event marking 70 years since the United Nations vote that led to creation of the state of Israel when he contrasted the Trump administration stance on the embassy to that of past U.S. administrations.

McCain is back in Arizona for Christmas, will miss tax vote

Republican Sen. John McCain, who is battling brain cancer, is back home in Arizona after being treated for a viral infection and will miss the vote on the GOP tax bill. The 81-year-old senator was admitted last week to Walter Reed Medical Center, where he was dealing with the side effects of his treatment for cancer.

Democrats, advocacy groups launch blitz of ads attacking tax plan

The tax overhaul pushed by President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans is prompting a slew of attack ads by Democrats and progressive groups that say the legislation would lavish benefits on corporations and the rich, while harming the middle class. FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence depart the U.S. Capitol after meeting with House Republicans ahead of their vote on the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" in Washington, U.S. on November 16, 2017.

AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EST

Two of President Donald Trump's leading economic advisers sent mixed signals Sunday on the fate of a health care provision in the Senate version of a $1.5 trillion measure to overhaul business and personal income taxes that is expected to be voted on after Thanksgiving. The provision to repeal a requirement that everyone in the U.S. have insurance has emerged as a major sticking point for Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, who has said that issue should be dealt with separately from the push by Trump and fellow Republicans to overhaul the tax code.

Wholesome Mike Pence is good for the Trump administration

Vice President Pence speaks in Floresville, Tex., before attending the Republican Governors Association meetings in Austin. With abundant displays of general dysfunction and specific allegations of sexual assault and harassment becoming pervasive in Washington, it is worth remembering that there are good examples of decency and leadership that we can point to.

GOP Swamp Leaders Plotting ‘Drastic Plan’ To Steal Senate …

As Steve Bannon warned at CPAC back in February, "If you think they're going to give your country back to you without a fight you are sadly mistaken." Republican leaders are plotting a "drastic plan," to block Judge Roy Moore from becoming the next Senator of Alabama.

The Latest: Senate bill adds tax break for family leave

A new tax break for businesses that give their workers paid family leave has been put into the Senate Republican tax bill now moving toward approval. The proposal by Sen. Deb Fischer, R-Neb., was included in a late revision to the bill written by Sen. Orrin Hatch, chair of the Senate Finance Committee.

Alabama GOP gets increasing heat about Moore

Washington Republicans are tightening pressure on Alabama's GOP to keep a defiant Roy Moore from being elected to the Senate next month. Many are voicing hope that President Donald Trump could use his clout to resolve a problem that Republicans say leaves them with no easy options.

Republican governors gather amid party setbacks, turmoil

Scientists for the first time have tried gene editing inside the body in a bold attempt to permanently change a person's DNA to try to cure a disease. The gunman behind a rampage that killed 4 and injured 10 in California was free on bail and had been the subject of a domestic violence call the day before.

Trump resistance hands heavy defeats to Republicans in governorship polls

US Democrat Ralph Northam has defeated Republican Ed Gillespie in the race for the governorship of Virginia, marking his party's first major Trump-era victory. The results in the state were replicated in several contests across America on Tuesday as the Trump resistance struck back at the US president's nationalist rhetoric.

Pence praises GOP ‘momentum,’ but some governors may be wary

Vice President Mike Pence told a gathering of Republican governors Wednesday "we've got real momentum," despite stinging electoral defeats last week in Virginia and New Jersey, a GOP-led Congress that has failed to pass any major legislation this year and President Donald Trump's plummeting popularity. Pence's party controls a record-tying 34 U.S. governorships and part of a two-day annual Republican Governors Association meeting in the capital of Texas, the country's largest red state, was to discussing how to continue that dominance.

Trump tweets that failed Virginia GOP gubernatorial candidate “did not embrace me”

President Donald Trump on Tuesday quickly sought to distance himself from Republican gubernatorial hopeful Ed Gillespie in the Virginia governor's race as Democrat Ralph Northam was projected to win by multiple news outlets. "Ed Gillespie worked hard but did not embrace me or what I stand for," Trump said on Twitter in the midst of his visit to South Korea, as Virginia results continued to roll in, suggesting a comfortable Northam victory.