Ron Johnson Comes Out Against Republican Tax Plan

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announces that he has filed a lawsuit to block the federal government from helping to pay for health care coverage for members of Congress and their staffs, during a news conference on Capit... Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., announces that he has filed a lawsuit to block the federal government from helping to pay for health care coverage for members of Congress and their staffs, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, Jan. 6, 2014. Johnson says that members of Congress and their staffs are getting special treatment under the health care law. The lawsuit would would force Congress and its staffers to purchase their insurance from the federal health care exchanges without exemptions carved out by the Office of Personnel Management. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) MORE LESS
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Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Wednesday said he will not vote for Republican lawmakers’ tax cut bill. Without Johnson’s support, the measure is hanging onto life by one vote.

“If they can pass it without me, let them,” Johnson said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. “I’m not going to vote for this tax package.”

Johnson complained about the process Republican lawmakers used to write the tax legislation, and called it “pretty offensive, personally.”

His opposition may not be set in stone: After voicing opposition to a Republican health care bill in July, similarly depriving leadership of a crucial vote when conservatives had few to spare, Johnson alternately supported the bill and returned to indecision.

Republican Senate leadership on Tuesday introduced an amendment to the tax legislation that would repeal Obamacare’s individual mandate, a provision that would save the government money at the cost of millions of people losing their health insurance.

Lawmakers hope to send the bill to Trump’s desk by the end of the year.

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