The Daily Populous Sunday June 29th, 2025 night edition
Authored by nbcnews.com and submitted by This_Meaning_4045

WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders are aiming to hold a a key test vote Saturday afternoon for their sprawling domestic policy package after releasing the 940-page bill overnight.

GOP senators met behind closed doors Saturday afternoon as they raced to pass the sweeping legislation for President Donald Trump’s agenda by a self-imposed deadline of July 4, but it continues to face hurdles along the way. It remains unclear if the Republican-controlled Senate has the simple majority needed to move forward.

The legislation would extend the tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017 and slash taxes on tips and overtime pay. It includes a $150 billion boost to military spending this year, along with a surge of federal money to carry out Trump’s mass deportations and immigration enforcement agenda. It partially pays for that with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy funding.

The bill would add about $4 trillion to the national debt when factoring in higher interest payments, according to an analysis published Saturday by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that supports lower deficits.

It also contains a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling ahead of an August deadline to avert a default on the country’s obligations.

With a 53-47 majority in the chamber, Republicans can afford just three defections on the vote, with no hope of winning Democratic support. Republicans are seeking to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is hoping to hold a first test vote on the mammoth package Saturday but is running into problems from rank-and-file Republicans who are trying to pump the brakes on the process.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said Saturday morning on Fox News that he would vote against the initial motion to start debate on the bill until he has more time to review it.

“We just got the bill, and I got my first copy about 1:23 in the morning, this morning. About 300 provisions, by my count,” Johnson said. “We shouldn’t take the Nancy Pelosi approach and pass this bill to find out what’s in it. We need to know exactly what’s in it.”

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., told NBC News on Friday that he will oppose the bill, but that he would reconsider if Republicans strip out the debt ceiling hike. That is highly unlikely to happen. Paul, the only GOP senator who has voted against the measure throughout all the steps of the process this year, said it is “much more of a spending bill than a bill that rectifies the debt problem.”

Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who faces a tough re-election battle next year, said he will oppose the package.

“I’ll be voting no on the motion to proceed, and on final passage,” Tillis told reporters Saturday afternoon.

The GOP package prohibits Medicaid funding for entities that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood, seeking to make good on a long-standing conservative priority. But that pursuit has faced opposition in the past from Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, so the provision could imperil their votes.

Collins told reporters she would vote "yes" to begin debate, but that she still had problems with the bill. She said she'd file several amendments to the measure, and is "leaning against" it on final passage unless it is further revised.

Leaving the Capitol on Friday night, Thune said he’s not certain that Republicans have the votes to advance the measure but that it’s time to act.

“It’s a process and hopefully the votes will be there,” Thune said, “but we won’t know for sure until we actually have the vote.”

Even if the package can pass its first hurdle Saturday, it would still have a long way to go. There would be at least 10 hours of debate before senators can start voting on amendments. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said he would force a reading of the entire bill, which would add hours to the process.

The House, which passed its own version in May, would also need to pass the Senate bill before it heads to Trump’s desk.

GOP leaders are making a daring bet that reluctant members won’t vote to scuttle Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” when push comes to shove. And they’ve said they may need to enlist the president to twist arms and sway holdouts.

Trump, who changed his plans and stayed in Washington this weekend, has already been heavily engaged in whip effort. He has been calling senators and hosting some for meetings at the White House. On Saturday, he golfed with Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., at his golf club in Virginia.

The Senate legislation seeks to resolve a standoff over the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. It lifts an existing $10,000 cap to $40,000 for five years — down from a decade in the House-passed version — before lowering it back to $10,000. That represents a significant concession for blue-state House Republicans who had insisted on solidifying the higher cap.

That new provision faced immediate opposition from Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who told NBC News in a statement: “While I support the President’s broader agenda, it would be hypocritical for me to back the same unfair $10k SALT cap I’ve spent years criticizing. A permanent $40k deduction cap with income thresholds of $225k for single filers and $450k for joint filers would earn my vote.”

The bill seeks to mitigate the pain of Medicaid cuts on some providers by creating a rural hospital fund worth $25 billion over five years. It includes work requirements and other new rules for recipients to qualify for coverage under the program.

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he’s “going to vote yes on this bill” after some last-minute changes to the Medicaid provider tax that he said are good for Missouri. But he said he has reservations.

"This has been an unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid. And I think, frankly, my party needs to do some soul searching. If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to deliver for working-class people," Hawley said. "You cannot take away health care from working people. And unless this is changed going forward, that is what will happen in coming years. So I’m going to do everything I can to stop that."

ReaderBeeRottweiler on June 28th, 2025 at 17:32 UTC »

The ridiculousness and cruelty of this bill is astounding. Cut Medicaid for all, but set up a 25 billion dollar fund for rural areas only to fund their hospitals.

Senator Josh Hawley, of Missouri, just told a reporter his vote is now a yes, because he's confident his state will get the Medicaid funds it needs.

per NYTimes:

"He said he was confident that changes in the bill will increase Medicaid money in his state at least in the short term."

Fund poor, red, rural areas and reduce funding everywhere else.

Colonel-Mooseknuckle on June 28th, 2025 at 17:25 UTC »

Are they providing a CliffsNotes version? Or would that tip everyone off to all the bullshit they have crammed in there?

Shady motherfuckers.

Face2FaceRecs on June 28th, 2025 at 17:21 UTC »

Surprise, surprise, they drop the bomb right before they go to vote. Nothing like this should be able to be passed with a simple majority. This bill is plundering everyday Americans.