In a moment before midnight, Senate Republican leaders released the 940-page bill text on Friday with the goal of opening voting on Saturday.
GOP lawmakers are competing to pass the sweeping package of President Donald Trump’s agenda agenda due to a voluntary deadline of July 4th, but continue to face hurdles along the way. And it’s unclear whether Senate Republicans have enough votes to start the debate.
The law extends the tax cuts Trump signed in 2017 to the law, reducing tips and taxes on overtime salaries. This includes a $150 billion boost to military spending this year, and a surge in federal funds to implement Trump’s massive deportation and immigration enforcement agenda. It will pay partially with Medicaid cuts, snaps and clean energy financing, but the law could add to national debt.
It also includes a $5 trillion increase in the debt cap ahead of the August deadline to avoid defaulting state obligations.
With a majority of 53-47 in the room, Republicans can afford to pay three asylums on the vote without hoping to win democratic support. Republicans are trying to pass the bill through a budget adjustment process that can bypass the Senate 60-vote threshold.
Senate majority leader John Tune (Rs.D.) is aiming to hold his first test vote on the Mammoth Package on Saturday, but has come across issues from Rank and File Republicans trying to pump the brakes of the process.
R-Wis. Sen. Ron Johnson of the group, who appeared on Fox News on Saturday morning, said he would vote against the first allegation to start debate on the bill until he has time to review it.
“We just got the bill. We got our first copy this morning around 1:23am. There’s about 300 provisions,” Johnson said. “We shouldn’t take Nancy Pelosi’s approach and pass this bill and find out what’s in it. We need to know exactly what’s in it.”
Senator Rand Paul, R-KY. told NBC News Friday that it opposes the bill but would reconsider it if Republicans stripped the debt cap increase. That’s unlikely to happen. Paul, the only GOP senator to vote against the action at every step of this year’s process, said “There are far more spending bills than bills that fix the debt issue.”
The GOP package is trying to ban Medicaid funding for entities offering abortions, including Planned Parenthood, and make it a good one with a long-standing conservative priorities. However, that pursuit faces opposition from Sen. Susan Collins of R-Maine and Lisa Murkowski of R-Alaska, so the provision could put their votes at risk.
Thune, who left Capitol on Friday night, said he is not certain that Republicans have the vote to proceed with the measure, but is not sure it’s time to act.
“It’s a process and I hope the votes are there if possible,” Thune said.
Even if the package can pass the first hurdle on Saturday, there’s still a long way to go. There has been at least 10 hours of debate before the senators begin voting for the amendment, with Democrats threatening to force a reading of the entire bill. The House, which passed its own version in May, will need to pass Senate bills before heading to Trump’s desk.
GOP leaders have a bold bet that passive members won’t vote for Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” when the push sticks out. And they said they might need to join the president to twist his weapons and shake up the holdout.
The Senate law seeks to resolve conflicts over state and local tax (salt) credits. We will reduce the existing $10,000 cap to $10,000 for five years (from 10 years with the House Pass version). This represents an important concession for Blue State House Republicans who insisted on tightening a higher cap.
The bill seeks to reduce the pain of Medicaid reductions for some healthcare providers by creating a rural hospital fund worth $25 billion over five years. This includes work requirements and other new rules for which recipients can qualify.
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer, DN.Y., condemned the bill.
“At the request of Big Oil, late at night, Senate Republicans released a new version of “big and beautiful betrayal,” which retroactively raises taxes on energy,” he said in a statement Saturday. “Republicans want to jack up their electricity bills and put hundreds of thousands of jobs in danger.
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