“The word is John will come back if we need his vote. He’s going through a very tough time, there’s no question about it. But he will come back if we need his vote.”

— President Trump, quoted by the Washington Post, on Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) returning to Arizona ahead of the tax bill vote.

Bloomberg: “Lawmakers scrambling to lock up Republican support for the tax reform bill added a complicated provision late in the process — one that would provide a multimillion-dollar windfall to real estate investors such as President Trump. The change, which would allow real estate businesses to take advantage of a new tax break that’s planned for partnerships, limited liability companies and other so-called ‘pass-through’ businesses, combined elements of House and Senate legislation in a new way.”

“Its beneficiaries are clear, tax experts say, and they include a president who’s said that the tax legislation wouldn’t help him financially…. The revision might also bring tax benefits to several members of Congress, according to financial disclosures they’ve filed that reflect ownership of pass-through firms with real estate holdings. One such lawmaker, Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who’d voted against an earlier version of the legislation, said on Friday that he would support the revised legislation.”

The Tennessean reports Corker asked Senate Finance Committe Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) to explain how the provision “ended up in the final version of the tax reform package that Congress is expected to approve this week.”

“Republican leaders in both houses of Congress face a sticky situation this week as they try to avert a government shutdown: Each side has promised its members things that will not fly in the other chamber,” Politico reports.

“Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) he’d support passage of legislation by the end of the year to prop up Obamacare insurance markets — so long as she votes for tax reform. That addition, however, puts Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in a pickle: His members are loath to be seen as bailing out a health care law they hate.”

“Ryan, meanwhile, green-lighted a short-term spending strategy that funds the Pentagon but does nothing for Democratic priorities — and suggested House members could leave town to try to ‘jam the Senate’ into accepting their bill. But McConnell needs eight Democrats to pass anything, so the House plan is sure to fail in his chamber.”