“In 2009, almost every Republican in Congress opposed a $787 billion stimulus plan in the midst of an economic crisis because they said it would cause a dangerous increase in the federal debt,” the New York Times reports.

Said Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) at the time: “Yesterday the Senate cast one of the most expensive votes in history. Americans are wondering how we’re going to pay for all this.”

“Nine years later, during one of the longest economic expansions in American history, almost every Republican in Congress — including Mr. McConnell, now the majority leader — supports a tax plan that is projected to cause an even larger increase in the federal debt.”

Washington Post: “When Senate Republicans introduced their tax bill in mid-November, they faced competing interests: Some senators thought it wasn’t generous enough for working-class families. Others thought it didn’t deliver enough to business owners.”

“As Republicans moved closer to a final vote on the bill Friday night, they made several tweaks to the tax legislation. They announced more benefits for business owners, particularly wealthy ones, but they voted down a proposal by Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) to give low-income families a bigger tax break.”

“The disparate treatment underlined how the legislation — a massive rewrite of the individual and corporate tax code — has evolved since its first incarnation: What began as an effort that would favor wealthy individuals and corporations became, in many ways, even more tilted in their favor as the legislation made its way through the Senate.”

“Any handwriting experts out there? I’d like to know what this says before they call for a vote.”

— Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), on Twitter, as Senate Republicans rushed to make changes and vote on their tax bill late last night.

“The Senate passed the most sweeping tax rewrite in decades early Saturday, with Republicans lining up to approve an overhaul that will touch almost every corner of the United States economy, affecting families, small business owners and multinational corporations, with the biggest benefits flowing to the highest-earning Americans,” the New York Times reports.

“Senators voted 51-49, as Republicans approved the nearly 500-page bill in the early morning hours after lawmakers received a rewritten version, which contained significant changes from the original bill that passed two Senate panels last month along party lines. The last-minute revisions prompted an outcry from Democrats, who said it was impossible — and irresponsible — for lawmakers to read and digest a significant piece of legislation in such a short period of time.”

Washington Post: “This time, urged on by donors and fearful of facing voters in next year’s midterm elections without a legislative achievement to show, Republicans said time and again that failure was not an option.”

Ken Rudin: “It fascinates me that we don’t even have the final language yet for the Senate tax bill but Republicans say they have the votes to pass it. Why not just call for a vote now and write the bill some other time?”

We now expect the final vote to be 51 to 49, with Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) as the only Republican voting against the legislation.