WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump will welcome key Republicans to the White House on Monday to push a tax reform plan that has become complicated by a year-end legislative sprint in Congress.
Several Republican senators are expressing reservations about the tax overhaul, a $1.5 trillion package that could become the most significant achievement of Trump's first year in office, but has low public support among voters.
Trump said that revisions are being made in an appeal to reluctant Republicans as he invited several Senate Finance Committee members for lunch. The president will also meet with all Republican senators Tuesday at the Capitol.
"The Tax Cut Bill is coming along very well, great support," Trump tweeted Monday morning. "With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings and the pass through provision becomes simpler and really works well!"
Pushing ahead on tax reform has become tangled by other looming agenda items. Congress must reach a budget accord soon or risk a government shutdown next week, but the tax bill's $1.5 trillion price tag has raised concerns among the Senate's few remaining deficit hawks.
Lawmakers are also mulling an Obamacare fix to stave off rising premiums that some senators want completed before they agree to the tax bill, which includes a repeal of the Affordable Care Act's mandate that Americans carry insurance.
Other senators want a year-end immigration deal for young immigrants known as "Dreamers," who face deportation early next year when Trump plans to end a program that allows them to stay in the country temporarily with work permits.
The tax package, though, remains the GOP's top priority as Republicans prepare to close out the year with few other legislative accomplishments.
Even though polls show a majority of voters oppose the tax overhaul _ which cuts corporate taxes, lowers some individual rates, and does away with many popular deductions _ most Republicans support it.
The House already passed its version of the tax bill, and the Senate plan is headed for a vote later this week. With a narrow 52-seat majority in the Senate, Republicans can spare only two votes for passage, if Vice President Mike Pence breaks a tie.
The tax package got a boost Monday when Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., announced he would be backing the package.
"This bill is not perfect," Paul wrote in an op-ed on FoxNews.com. "The next few weeks in Washington will be important. Will we keep our word and cut taxes?"
