WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators hunkered down Monday to consider proposed amendments to President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts amid challenges including the weekend announcement from one GOP senator that he won’t run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts.
The potential changes were being considered in what’s called a vote-a-rama, though most are expected to fail. With Democrats united against the Republican president’s legislation and eagerly lined up to challenge it, the voting could take all day and churn into the night.
“It’s time to vote,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota as the session opened.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the “hardest choices” for Republicans are still to come. Democrats, he said, are bringing “amendment after amendment after amendment to the floor, so Republicans can defend their billionaire tax cuts and so they can try to explain their massive cuts to Medicaid to people back home.”
The day will be pivotal for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing against Trump’s July Fourth deadline to wrap up work. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president, with no room politically to fail, even as not all Republicans are on board.
A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership team has recalled lawmakers back to Washington for voting in the House as soon as Wednesday, if the legislation can first clear the Senate.
But the outcome remains uncertain.
As the first few amendments came up Monday — to strike parts of the bill that would limit Medicaid funds to rural hospitals or shift the costs of food stamps benefits to the states — some were winning support from a few Republicans.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joined Democrats on the rural hospitals amendment, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, joined Democrats on both votes.
But none of the amendments won majority support to substantially change the package.
Senators to watch
Few Republicans appear fully satisfied as the final package emerges. GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who announced Sunday he would not seek reelection after Trump badgered him over his opposition to the package, said he has the same goals as Trump: cutting taxes and spending.
But Tillis said this package is a betrayal of the president’s promises not to kick people off health care, especially if rural hospitals close.
“We could take the time to get this right,” he thundered.
At the same time, some loosely aligned conservative Senate Republicans — Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming — have pushed for steeper cuts, particularly to health care, drawing their own warning from Trump.
“Don’t go too crazy!” the president posted on social media. “REMEMBER, you still have to get reelected.”
