The Senate convened for a few minutes Friday morning before heading back into recess so that leadership can twist arms on the tax bill. This is after Sen. John Cornyn triumphantly declared they had the vote. Here's the arm they are apparently twisting.
The two votes that seem to be definitely lost are Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Jeff Flake of Arizona, because the rewrite they concocted in secret overnight does not address their deficit concerns. They could maybe, possibly flip Arizona Sen. John McCain on those grounds as well. Between that and the fact that they are about to vote on a bill that they rewrote in secret overnight, with input from just a handful of senators, should be enough for McCain to get principled again.
There’s also the part where there is a very big, black cloud over the White House this morning while former national security adviser Michael Flynn is pleading guilty to lying to the FBI about his discussions with the Russian ambassador while still part of the Trump team. There’s always the possibility that Republicans are rushing this tax cut through before Trump is too implicated by the investigation to work with publicly. They might want to think a little harder about that this morning, when they have no idea just how many beans Flynn has spilled to get this deal.
Here are Collins’ office numbers:
DC: (202) 224-2523
Augusta: (207) 622-8414
Bangor: (207) 945-0417
Biddeford: (207) 283-1101
Caribou: (207) 493-7873
Lewiston: (207) 784-6969
Portland: (207) 780-3575