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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell  (R-Ky.) is promising the GOP tax bill, which is projected to add $1.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, will not result in cuts to Medicare next year. McConnell offered the vow to Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a key swing vote, during a Wednesday meeting in his office. (Bolton, 11/30)

House conservatives said they won't support a short-term spending bill to fund the government if it contains provisions to "bail out" insurance companies. A deal between moderate GOP Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would likely attach two bipartisan measures to stabilize ObamaCare's insurance markets to the spending bill in exchange for her vote on tax reform. (Hellmann, 11/30)

House Republicans are divided on a health care deal a Senate colleague struck on the GOP tax bill, potentially setting up a hurdle for a major item on the party’s agenda. Some members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus stand opposed to funding cost-sharing subsidies for low-income consumers on the health insurance exchanges, a key provision that Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, indicated is important to her support for a tax bill that would repeal the current requirement that most Americans get insurance. She said President Donald Trump also agreed to her request for additional money for a federal reinsurance fund that would pay for high-cost patients. (Clason, 11/30)

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said early Thursday that she expects legislation to lower health-care premiums to pass Congress before senators take a final vote on a $1.5 trillion tax-reform bill that would repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate. Collins, speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast, said it’s a mistake to scrap the individual mandate without making other reforms to the health-care system. (Bolton, 11/30)

Since the short-term bill through Dec. 22 will be a must-pass piece of legislation, lawmakers are certain to try to cram other measures onto it. Most prominently, Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said this week that her support for the Senate GOP tax-overhaul bill—which repeals the Affordable Care Act requirement that most people have health insurance or pay a penalty—will depend on whether Congress also passes a bipartisan health-care bill aimed at offsetting any resulting increases in premiums. Ms. Collins said that bipartisan bill, from Sens. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D., Wash.), would likely be folded into the short-term spending bill. (Peterson, 11/30)