Tax bill vote: Live updates from US Senate chamber

12:26 a.m. ET -- There could be about five or six more votes tonight before the Senate gets to the final passage of the tax bill.

That should take at least an hour to an hour and a half, so long as votes on other amendments/motions aren't required.

So at the earliest, we are looking at 1:45 to 2 a.m. ET before they start the final vote to finish the tax bill.

12:09 a.m. ET – Vice President Mike Pence quickly moved to the Senate chamber to preside over a vote on an amendment offered by U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, about 529 savings plans.

The vote ended in a 50-50 tie, so in his capacity as president of the Senate, Pence cast a vote to break the tie.

Pence voted in the affirmative to make the vote 51-50 and the Senate agreed to the amendment.

Original story:

Vice President Mike Pence arrived at the U.S. Capitol late Friday as the U.S. Senate debated a tax-reform bill in hopes of getting a finalized proposal to a vote early Saturday.

If any votes are tied, then Pence – in the VP's role as president of the Senate – would cast the deciding vote. An unspecified number of prelimary votes could be held before the final vote on the full bill.

No Democrats were expected to vote in favor of the tax bill, meaning Republicans need to convince skeptical members of the party to support the tax proposal in order to ensure passage.

One Democrat from a battleground state – who faces a challenging re-election next year – told Fox News it's likely that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., intentionally crafted the bill to make it "impossible" for any Democrat -- even a moderate -- to vote yes.

That way, Republicans can use this weekend's roll call vote on the tax bill against vulnerable Democrats in next year's midterm elections.

Fox News' Chad Pergram, Jason Donner and Joe DeFrank contributed to this story.

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