The Senate Budget Committee approved the Republican tax reform bill on Tuesday along party lines.
All 12 Republicans voted to advance the measure already approved by the Senate Finance Committee on Nov. 16.
The bill was unchanged. It now advances to the Senate floor for a final vote, before differences with a House version also approved Nov. 16 are worked out.
Republican unity is critical in the Senate, where several senators are withholding support for final passage over concern that the proposed tax cuts will add to the federal deficit.
Committee member Ron Johnson, R-Wis., a former small business owner, had threatened to withhold his approval over concern that corporate tax cuts are more generous than proposed changes to pass-through businesses such as private equity partnerships.
