Washington (CNN) House Republicans are hours away from fulfilling their pledge of a full-scale tax overhaul. But all eyes have already shifted to the Senate, where the reality of tax reform is starting to bubble up: It's complicated, it's difficult and, at some point, the cruise control would be flicked off and this would start to get real. Well, now it's getting real.

Of note

What House leaders have managed to do here is no small feat. They took something that hadn't been done in 31 years and made it look like a relatively smooth process. And yes, even they are fairly surprised by how well this has gone so far, according to several aides.

Of note, pt. 2

Whenever the House votes on this again, it will look different, period. But Thursday's vote plays the role of locking lawmakers in -- to vote for this and then threaten to vote against whatever the House-Senate conference agrees to would be a big, big flip. GOP leaders will pass this bill with room to spare, and with good reason. They want to lock as many of their guys in as possible, because who knows what's coming back their way in a couple of weeks.

Read More