Senate Strives to Revive Trump’s Major Bill Amid Challenges

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    In Washington, Senate Republicans demonstrated a strong push on Friday to get President Donald Trump’s hallmark legislation back in motion following a series of last-minute adjustments, including significant reductions to food stamp allocations. However, a significant journey remains before the anticipated weekend votes.

    Initially, President Trump granted Congress some leeway as senators scrambled to meet the Fourth of July deadline. During a White House press conference, he remarked, “It’s not the end all.” Nonetheless, he promptly reversed his stance, pressing House Republicans to finalize the bill by Independence Day. “We can get it done,” Trump expressed through a post, adding, “It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country.”

    As the party holding majority power, Republicans are navigating through a checklist of unresolved issues in hopes of advancing the package despite unanimous Democratic opposition. The core of their strategy lies in substantial cuts to health care, food stamps, and green energy initiatives to balance the $3.8 trillion intended for tax reductions, which is their main focus. Any of these challenges could potentially derail the extensive package.

    The proposed cuts to Medicaid have particularly sparked concerns among some GOP senators who are apprehensive about the potential loss of health care access for millions in their states. Meanwhile, there is a tentative agreement in the works between the White House and House GOP members from New York and other high-tax areas concerning the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, but it still requires broader consensus.

    House Speaker Mike Johnson, after sending lawmakers home for the weekend with instructions to be ready to return to Washington swiftly, noted they are “very close” to completion. “We would still like to meet that July 4th, self-imposed deadline,” commented Johnson, R-La.

    Throughout the drafting process of this substantial legislation, Johnson has collaborated closely with Senate Majority Leader John Thune and maintained strong communication with the White House, who emphasize the necessity of the bill to prevent a large tax increase at the year’s end as current tax rates expire. GOP leadership is counting on President Trump to urge remaining lawmakers to rally and pass the bill.

    “My expectation is at some point tomorrow we’ll be ready to go,” stated Thune, projecting the start of an anticipated multi-day sequence of speeches and voting, leading up to a decisive roll call vote. The Speaker even joined Senate Republicans for lunch, part of which was spent meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent regarding the proceeding SALT agreement.

    However, as Bessent later clarified, the deal is far from complete, with varied reactions from the Senate to the most recent proposal. The White House and House Republicans seemed to agree on maintaining the SALT provision on the House-passed terms of a $40,000 deduction cap, extended over five years instead of ten.

    The SALT deduction remains a sticking point, especially for legislators from New York and other high-tax states who are negotiating to increase the current $10,000 cap significantly. Senate Republicans have argued that the proposal is overly generous, resulting in a costly expenditure of hundreds of billions, primarily benefiting the regions of a few lawmakers.

    With narrow majorities in both the House and Senate, the Republicans require nearly every lawmaker to support the package to ensure its passage. One GOP dissenter, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, has expressed he cannot back the compromise.

    Nonetheless, other components of the bill are receiving reinforcement after encountering a series of obstacles when the Senate parliamentarian advised certain sections would not pass the chamber’s stringent “Byrd Rule.” This rule generally excludes policy matters from budget bills unless they can achieve the 60-vote threshold GOP leaders are keen to bypass.

    The Republican proposal aimed at shifting the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as SNAP, has been approved by the Senate parliamentarian. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, head of the Senate Agriculture Committee, mentioned that provisions excluding certain immigrants from food aid eligibility were also accepted. “This paves the way for important reforms that improve efficiency and management of SNAP,” he mentioned.

    On the other side, the committee’s leading Democrat, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, stated that her party would “keep fighting these proposals that raise grocery costs and take food away from millions of people, including seniors, children, and veterans.”

    An analysis by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office revealed that approximately 10.9 million people would lose healthcare access, and at least 3 million individuals would no longer qualify for food aid under the House-passed bill. However, the Congressional Budget Office has yet to offer a public assessment of the Senate draft, which poses even deeper cuts.

    Under the House-passed bill, top-income earners would see around a $12,000 tax reduction, whereas the lowest-income Americans would experience a $1,600 tax increase, according to the CBO.

    Additionally, the parliamentarian has accepted a revised proposal from the Senate Banking Committee which aims to adjust, not eliminate, the funding structure for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. This entity, established following the 2008 financial crisis, has been scaled down by Trump.

    Despite this progress, numerous GOP provisions have been found noncompliant with Senate rules, such as exempting certain firearm silencers from taxes and introducing a national school voucher program.

    Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Republicans for hastily finishing the bill before the public fully understands its contents. “There’s no good reason for Republicans to chase a silly deadline,” he asserted.