WASHINGTON _ GOP leaders said Wednesday they have reached an agreement to reconcile the House and Senate versions of their sweeping tax cut plan.
"We reached the agreement," Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, told reporters in advance of a conference committee meeting to discuss the two measures.
Hatch provided no details about the agreement. "I just want to talk to the president first," he said.
President Donald Trump was preparing to address the nation Wednesday afternoon to push for quick passage of his top domestic priority.
The final bill is expected to ease off slightly from one of its cornerstones, a steep reduction in corporate tax rates, from 35 percent to 20 percent. Instead, negotiators had been considering a rate of 21 percent.
Savings from that change would be used to pay for other benefits in the bill.
Democrats meanwhile called for postponement of a vote on the bill until the new senator-elect from Alabama, Doug Jones, takes his seat. Jones' victory will cut the GOP Senate majority to 51-49.
But Republicans are expected to vote on the package next week.
