Graham on passing tax reform: 'I think we'll get there'

By Maegan Vazquez, CNN

(CNN) -- Sen. Lindsey Graham says he's hopeful about the GOP's chances of passing tax reform in the Senate before the end of the year.

The South Carolina Republican said Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union" that he thinks Republicans have it in them to push a bill through.

"We'll get there because failure is not an option when it comes to the Republican Party and cutting taxes," Graham said. "To every Republican senator, the fate of the party is in our hands as well as that of the economy. The economy needs a tax cut and the Republican party needs to deliver, so I think we'll get there."

Republican Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Jeff Flake of Arizona, and James Lankford of Oklahoma have all expressed criticism over the current tax plan.

Graham raised his own concerns over the party's future earlier this year, saying the GOP's control of Congress would not survive if tax reform failed.

"Well, I think all of us realize that if we fail on taxes, that's the end of the Republican Party's governing majority in 2018," Graham said on Fox News Radio's "The Brian Kilmeade Show" in October. "We'll lose the House, probably lose ground in the Senate and President Trump has got a profile different from the party -- there's kind of two or three different Republican Parties now, I guess. But we're all in it together."

The-CNN-Wire

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