Senate Majority Leader John Thune is still working to secure the support of several key Republicans, including at least two moderates and three conservatives, as the chamber moves through a marathon series of amendment votes on President Trump’s massive domestic policy bill. While most Republicans remain confident they’ll pass what Trump has called his “big, beautiful bill,” it still faces real hurdles.
Conservative senators Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, and Mike Lee are pushing for an amendment to slash an additional $313 billion in Medicaid spending by eliminating the 9-to-1 federal match for “able-bodied” adults without dependents in Medicaid expansion states. Johnson and Scott have declined to commit to voting for final passage if the amendment fails an outcome that appears likely, as the amendment lacks broad support.
At the same time, other Republicans like Sen. Josh Hawley have voiced strong opposition to the Medicaid cuts already in the bill. Hawley told reporters over the weekend that cutting healthcare for working Americans contradicts the party’s message. “If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to deliver to working-class people,” he said.
On the moderate side, Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski are still withholding their support as they push for major revisions. Collins has introduced an amendment to create a new 39.6 percent tax bracket for ultra-high earners and use the revenue to double the rural hospital relief fund from $25 billion to $50 billion. Murkowski is proposing an amendment to slow the phaseout of wind and solar tax credits.
Votes on those and other amendments including the Medicaid cuts, the rural hospital fund, and the renewable tax credit phaseout had not been scheduled as of Monday afternoon. Thune would not confirm whether he has the votes needed to pass the bill and predicted that the vote-a-rama would stretch late into the night. He can only afford to lose three GOP votes if Democrats remain united in opposition.
Sens. Rand Paul and Thom Tillis have already declared themselves hard “no” votes. Paul opposes the bill’s $5 trillion debt ceiling hike, while Tillis has fiercely criticized the Medicaid cuts, warning they could cost coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians.
The vote-a-rama began with a fight over the Republicans’ use of a “current policy” budget baseline to make the extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts appear deficit-neutral after 2034. The Senate parliamentarian sided with Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham, affirming his authority under Section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act to set the baseline. That ruling blocked Democrats from forcing Republicans to rewrite the bill using the “current law” baseline, which would have shown $3.5 trillion in new deficits over the next decade.
Graham celebrated the ruling on the Senate floor, saying, “We’re not overruling the parliamentarian because she said it was up to the chairman to set the baseline.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer tried to overturn the ruling but failed in a 53-47 party-line vote. Schumer grew visibly frustrated, accusing Republicans of dishonesty about the bill’s impact on Medicaid and calling Tillis “one of the truth tellers” for his warnings. His remarks prompted a rare warning from presiding officer Sen. Bernie Moreno, who reminded Schumer not to violate Senate Rule XIX by impugning the motives of fellow senators.
Later, Sen. Bill Hagerty, presiding at the time, ruled that Chairman Graham alone would determine whether the bill complied with budget law. That decision led to a heated objection from Democratic Sen. Jeff Merkley, who accused Republicans of creating a “phony baseline” and abandoning decades of budgetary precedent. His motion to overrule the chair failed along party lines.
Republicans also held together to defeat several Democratic motions aimed at sending the bill back to committee. Sen. Jack Reed’s motion to reconsider major cuts to healthcare provider taxes, Sen. Ben Ray Luján’s motion to revisit cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and Sen. Ron Wyden’s motion to rework additional Medicaid provisions were all voted down on party lines.
As the vote-a-rama continues, Republicans remain under pressure to finalize the package ahead of the July 4 deadline President Trump has set. But with key senators still on the fence and contentious amendments unresolved, the path to passage remains uncertain.