Senate tees up second House battle on Trump mega-bill
Tax and Medicaid cuts, ICE spending, national debt pepper concerns among supporters and opponents ahead of July 4th deadline
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WASHINGTON _ With the Senate prepared for a vote Monday on President Donald Trump’s chief second-term legislative agenda, House Republicans are already gearing up (and girding) for another battle should the expansive tax and spending measure advance.
Senators spent the weekend in Washington — with Republican leaders racing to meet the White House-imposed deadline of July 4th and Democratic leaders pushing to derail the measure.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would extend major tax reforms put in during Trump’s first term eight years ago, increase spending on Trump’s immigration raids, roll back the expansion of Medicaid included in the Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) and increase the national debt and more.
The unwieldy nature of the measure has split House and Senate Republicans — with veteran North Carolina Republican Sen. Thom Tillis surprising Washington over the weekend when he announced his retirement — but has chugged along closer to becoming law with steady and continuous lobbying from the Trump administration and the president himself in public statements.
While the bill overcame a procedural hurdle this past weekend, multiple holdouts remain, with Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine), and Tillis’ among those not yet annoucing support. The measure, officially a budget reconciliation measure, would need at least 50 votes (with Vice President J.D. Vance serving as tie-breaker) to return to the House before being shipped to the White House for Trump’s signature.
Multiple provisions, some of which helped sweeten the deal for key swing votes including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) including a boost in Medicaid payments to Alaska and Hawaii, were stripped out by the Senate parliamentarian.
But White House and GOP Congress sources say they are cautiously optimistic about its passage out of the upper chamber, with hopes the House will bow to their changes despite strong pushback from both conservative hardliners and centrist Republicans running for re-election in tough swing districts.
During a closed-to-press call on Saturday, Speaker Mike Johnson called on members to rally around the bill - which looks to address tax cuts, border security and energy reforms - with rank-and-file lawmakers telling 24sight News they were frustrated they weren’t allowed to ask questions.
“The call was less than 15 minutes, with members being told if they have issues, let House leaders know, then they will work to fix them with Senate,” one lawmaker told us.
Johnson confirmed to 24sight News he would like to see a second reconciliation bill in the fall, which he believes can address remaining concerns. The House is set to return Tuesday in hopes of passing the bill on Wednesday.
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