Senate pulls all-nighter searching for megabill votes
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- Senate GOP slogs through megabill changes
- What do Tillis, Bacon retirements spell for 2026?
- Trump targets Fed’s board, chair and Musk
- Netanyahu to visit White House
THE FATE OF THE SENATE's mammoth tax and spending bill this morning turns on nailing down final support from senators who have lingering misgivings.
“We’re close,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) told reporters early this morning while entering his office as the GOP’s vote-a-rama inched toward the 21-hour mark.
On the Senate floor, Democrats have worked hour after hour to amend the sprawling bill that champions President Trump’s agenda — or to force Republicans to take tough votes.
In some cases, Democrats have attracted support from multiple GOP colleagues while failing to substantially change the 940-page measure. At one point, 18 Republicans voted to raise taxes on the nation's wealthiest Americans to help fund rural hospitals that would be hit hard by the bill's Medicaid cuts. The Medicaid changes are aimed at helping offset the tax cuts Trump is determined to extend beyond this year.
At the White House, Trump and his advisers have been lobbying senators, making clear that the goal remains a bill signing ceremony by Friday, July 4. And waiting on the other side of the Capitol are House Republicans, who have been fuming about the Senate-bill-in-progress.
Conservatives in the House on Monday cricitized the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" as vastly inferior to the legislation they passed by a single vote in May. The House is expected to return as soon as Wednesday to act on the legislation, assuming the Senate wraps up its work.
Thune’s focus overnight turned to Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), whose vote one senator described as a “coin flip.” She wants to exempt her state from some Medicaid cuts in the bill.
Late Monday, a group of conservatives huddled with the Senate GOP leader as it became clear an amendment they backed to further reduce Medicaid spending did not have the votes to pass.
Republicans can lose a maximum of three votes, and Sens. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) are already expected to vote “no” over their opposition to proposed Medicaid cuts and the inclusion of a $5 trillion debt ceiling hike, respectively. Thune spent some time overnight talking privately with his Kentucky colleague.
At least a half-dozen Republican senators said Monday they were undecided, and several issues that could make or break their decisions churned in flux.
▪ Follow The Hill's live blog for the latest Senate coverage.
▪ NBC News: Who would win and who would lose in Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.”
West Virginia Republican Sen. Jim Justice on Monday joined Tillis in expressing doubts about the political wisdom of Senate changes to Medicaid proposed by Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), who wants to stop able-bodied adults without dependent children from receiving the 9-to-1 federal Medicaid matching share, a proposal that would reduce federal Medicaid spending by an additional $313 billion on top of what’s already in the GOP megabill.
“And now we’re taking it to another level,” Justice said of Scott’s proposal to bar new enrollees into Medicaid in states that expanded the program from getting the generous 90 percent federal match. Thirty-three percent of West Virginians benefit from Medicaid coverage, a fact Justice knows well as the state’s former governor.
Democrats have made clear where their political messaging is heading after any bill signing. “It’s bad legislation,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told MSNBC on Monday. “If this passes, this is a political gift for Democrats.”
▪ The Hill: Senate defeats Maine Sen. Susan Collins’ (R) proposal to raise taxes on highest earners to help rural hospitals.
▪ The New York Times: Here’s a list of nearly everything in the Senate GOP bill and how much it would cost or save.
▪ Bloomberg News: Senate GOP on Monday removed a tax bill provision limiting state AI regulation.
Next, the megabill must return to the House, where it passed before Memorial Day with a one-vote margin. House Republicans have expressed skepticism of the Senate’s bill, but the upper chamber GOP is squeezing the timeline to try to force their colleagues to vote on their version of the legislation.
Still, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) — tasked once again with pulling a rabbit out of a legislative hat to push the bill through with his razor-thin majority — opened the door last week to blowing past the holiday.
“We’re going to pass this bill one way or the other,” Johnson said leaving the Capitol on Monday evening. “And I have prevailed upon my Senate colleagues to please, please, please, put it as close to the House product as possible. I have been very consistent from the very beginning.”
That extra time could be crucial, reports The Hill’s Mychael Schnell. At least six moderate House Republicans are planning to vote “no” on the Senate bill in its current form, The Hill has learned, as they air concerns about changes to Medicaid and the rollback of green-energy tax credits. Hard-line conservatives, meanwhile, have raised sharp objections to the legislation over the impact it will have on the deficit.
