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6 Senate Republicans who could hold up Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'

9 23
02.06.2025

Senate Republicans will take control of the party’s mammoth tax and domestic policy bill when they return to Washington on Monday — and seek to win over a diverse group of GOP lawmakers agitating for changes to the legislation.

Members are staring down a key four-week stretch to hammer out provisions of the bill, with their Fourth of July goal in sight and pressure mounting to complete President Trump’s top domestic agenda priority.

The bill narrowly passed the House last month after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) struck a fragile compromise with different factions of his conference.

But there are still Senate Republicans who could gum up the works as Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) works to shepherd the legislation through the upper chamber with only three votes to spare.

Here’s a look at a half-dozen of those lawmakers to watch in the coming weeks.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

Murkowski, one of the foremost Senate GOP moderates, is atop the list of the members Thune and his leadership team will have to win over, and she has already indicated she has a number of concerns.

Although Murkowski voted for the Senate GOP’s budget resolution — which served as the blueprint for the bill — in early April, she told reporters she was worried about three items.

Among those is the impact of potential Medicaid work requirements, as she believes her state will have trouble implementing them due to its outdated payment systems for the program.

“There are provisions in there that are very, very, very challenging if not impossible for us to implement,” Murkowski said.

She has also expressed worries about what the Medicaid changes could mean for tribal communities in her state, which are heavily reliant on Medicaid for health coverage.

On top of that, she and three of........

© The Hill