Senate To Hold Marathon Session Of Votes On Trump’s Massive Tax Bill

WASHINGTON ― The U.S. Senate is expected to consider amendments to President Donald Trump’s multi-trillion dollar tax and spending bill in the early hours of Monday morning, setting up a vote on final passage later in the day.

Republicans voted Saturday night to begin debate on the massive package that includes tax cuts for the mostly wealthy as well as major cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and food assistance. Several key GOP holdouts flipped their positions, allowing Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda to proceed in a 51-49 vote under a special fast-track process known as budget reconciliation.

The legislation would take away health insurance for nearly 12 million people and add at least $3.3 trillion to the national debt over a decade, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office. That number would rise to nearly $4 trillion when including interest.

Senators will be able to offer an unlimited number of amendments to the bill during a marathon session of votes known as a “vote-a-rama.” Democrats are expected to propose amendments designed to divide Republicans and put pressure on vulnerable GOP senators up for reelection next year, including proposals that would raise taxes on the rich, and reverse the bill’s cuts to Medicaid and federal food assistance.

GOP leaders, meanwhile, will be under pressure to limit changes to the bill as much as possible to get it across the finish line by Trump’s July 4 deadline.

Some Republican senators have said they want to see further changes to the bill. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), a GOP incumbent up for reelection next year, for example, said her vote to advance the bill on Saturday was made under procedural grounds and did not mean she would ultimately support it on final passage. She wanted to see “substantial” changes, including to provisions dealing with Medicaid and federal food assistance.

But Republicans may not need to rely on Collins’ vote in the end. Even if she ultimately votes “no,” the bill still could pass with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President JD Vance.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) flipped his vote on proceeding to the bill on Saturday from “no” to “yes” after GOP leaders agreed to hold a vote on an amendment that would gut the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, ending the 90% federal cost-share for new enrollees in the program. It’s unclear whether this amendment would have the support to be adopted. It could also create problems for quickly passing the bill in the GOP-controlled House.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) also voted to advance the bill on Saturday after an hour of uncertainty on the Senate floor, but she has not yet said whether she will support it on final passage. The Senate parliamentarian advised on Sunday that increased federal support for Alaska that was tucked into the bill as a way to offset the cuts to Medicaid and food assistance violated the chamber’s rules.

Senate Republicans kicked off floor debate on the bill Sunday by deploying a parliamentary maneuver that will allow them to sidestep an adverse ruling from the parliamentarian’s office on the use of a budget gimmick obscuring the cost of the bill. Instead of $4 trillion being added to the deficit over 10 years if the bill is enacted, under this accounting method that is known as “current policy,” Republican senators argue it would only cost about $500 billion.

That prompted loud howls from the Democratic minority.

“Rather than be honest with the American people about the true costs of their billionaire giveaways, Republicans are doing something the Senate has never, never done before, deploying fake math and accounting gimmicks to hide the true cost for their bill,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said the GOP was breaking filibuster rules, and that it would come back to haunt them when Democrats are in the majority.

“Everybody ought to understand, this is the nuclear option,” Wyden said on the floor. “It’s just hidden behind a whole lot of Washington, D.C., lingo. The only difference is, instead of pressing a big nuclear button right at the beginning of the Congress, Republicans decided that they’d hide behind a cloak of Senate procedure and go nuclear for every individual bill they want to pass on party lines.”