Heckler shouts over Senate debate on Trump's ‘beautiful' megabill: ‘You people are awful'
A heckler interrupted a Senate debate on President Trump's 'One Big, Beautiful Bill', yelling out 'you people are awful'.
Representatives were holding a heated debate Sunday night that discussed Trump's megabill, which proposes tax cuts, new Medicaid requirements, and SALT tax deductions, in a bid to inject cash into Trump's rigorous immigration agenda and revised military budget.
The unidentified interrupter burst onto the Senate floor just after 7 p.m., just as Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders had concluded his speech opposing the bill.
'This bill is not what the American people want, and I hope very much we can defeat it,' Sanders was heard saying in his concluding speech moments before. 'Thank you very much.' Sanders has branded the bill 'probably the worst piece of legislation in modern history,' claiming 'it attacks the most vulnerable people while giving massive tax breaks to billionaires.'
Just as he finished, a livestream of the debate caught a muffled voice in the background.
'You people are awful,' the heckler yelled. 'You're awful. You're awful.'
Presiding officer Sen. Dave McCormick quickly interjected and told the sergeant at arms to 'restore order in the gallery.'
However, the heckler continued to yell out as officials raced to restore calm.
The protester was then heard saying, 'You're horrible,' just before the chamber returned to silence. The heckler has yet to be identified.
The 940 page megabill has been redrafted several times. On Saturday, Republicans narrowly voted 51-49 to advance it despite the opposition of two GOP lawmakers.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told Democratic senators Saturday he would demand a full reading of the megabill on the Senate floor once Republicans vote to proceed to the legislation. The act could take hours and delay a final passage of President Trump's agenda by half a day, at least.
"Republicans won't tell America what's in the bill. So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor,' Schumer said Saturday.
Meanwhile, Trump's former 'first buddy' Elon Musk branded the bill as 'utterly insane and destructive' in a post on X ahead of the vote.
Trump placed a 4 July deadline for representatives to pass the bill. Following the narrow victory Saturday, he took to Truth Social to declare 'a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate with the 'GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
10 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Stocks Slip Ahead of Data; Senate Pulls All-Nighter on Trump Tax Bill
Equity futures fall after the S&P 500 posted its best quarter since 2023, while the dollar saw its weakest half of a year since 1973. The Senate vote on President Trump's $3.3 trillion tax and spending bill continues into Tuesday morning. Europe is said to be pushing to negotiate on Trump's universal tariff, while Trump threatens to increase levies on Japan. Major central bank chiefs including Powell, Lagarde, Bailey, Ueda and Rhee are set to speak at the ECB forum in Sintra, Portugal. BNY's Geoffrey Yu and Kelsey Berro of JPMorgan Asset Management discuss their outlook for foreign interests in Treasuries and the dollar. 'Bloomberg Brief' delivers the market news, data and analysis you need to set your agenda. (Source: Bloomberg)
Chicago Tribune
10 minutes ago
- Chicago Tribune
Senate churns through overnight session as Republicans seek support for Trump's big bill
WASHINGTON — The Senate is slogging through a tense overnight session that has dragged into Tuesday, with Republican leaders searching for ways to secure support for President Donald Trump's big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts while fending off proposed amendments, mostly from Democrats trying to defeat the package. An endgame appeared to be taking shape. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota spent the night reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill's reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts. Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol, on hand to break a tie vote if needed. It's a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump's holiday deadline Friday. The 940-page 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act,' as it's formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president. At the same time House Speaker Mike Johnson has signaled more potential problems ahead, warning the Senate package could run into trouble when it is sent back to the House for a final round of voting, as skeptical lawmakers are being called back to Washington ahead of Trump's Fourth of July deadline. In a midnight social media post urging them on, Trump called the bill 'perhaps the greatest and most important of its kind.' Vice President JD Vance summed up his own series of posts, simply imploring senators to 'Pass the bill.' What started as a routine, but laborious day of amendment voting, in a process called vote-a-rama, spiraled into an almost round-the-clock marathon as Republican leaders were buying time to shore up support. The droning roll calls in the chamber belied the frenzied action to steady the bill. Grim-faced scenes played out on and off the Senate floor, and tempers flared. The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities in both chambers. Thune can lose no more than three Republican senators, and already two — Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who warns people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who opposes raising the debt limit by $5 trillion — have indicated opposition. Attention quickly turned to key senators, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, who have also wroked to stem the the health care cuts, but also a loose coalition of four conservative GOP senators pushing for even steeper reductions. Murkowski in particular was the subject of the GOP leadership's attention, as Thune and others sat beside her in conversation. Then all eyes were on Paul after he returned from a visit to Thune's office with a stunning offer that could win his vote. He had suggested substantially lowering the debt ceiling, according to two people familiar with the private meeting and granted anonymity to discuss it. And on social media, billionaire Elon Musk was again lashing out at Republicans as 'the PORKY PIG PARTY!!' for including the $5 trillion debt limit provision, which is needed to allow continued borrowing to pay the bills. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said his side was working to show 'how awful this is.' 'Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular,' Schumer said as he walked the halls. A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade. Few Republicans appear fully satisfied as the final package emerges, in either the House or Senate. Collins had proposed bolstering the $25 billion proposed rural hospital fund to $50 billion, offset with a higher tax rate on those earning more than $25 million a year, but her amendment failed. And Murkowski was trying to secure provisions to spare people in her state from some food stamp cuts, which appeared to be accepted, while she was also working to beef up federal reimbursements to hospitals in Alaska and others states, that failed to comply with parliamentary rules. 'Radio silence,' Murkowski said when asked how she would vote. At the same time, conservative Senate Republicans insisting on a vote on their plan for health care cuts, including Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, filed into Thune's office for a near-midnight meeting. A few of the amendments from Democrats were winning support from a few Republicans, though almost none were passing. One amendment was overwhelmingly approved, 99-1. It would strip a provision barring states from regulating artificial intelligence if they receive certain federal funding. All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump's 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips. The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states. Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants. Unable to stop the march toward passage, the Democrats as the minority party in Congress are using the tools at their disposal to delay and drag out the process. Democrats forced a full reading of the text, which took 16 hours, and they have a stream of amendments. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, the ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, raised particular concern at the start of debate late Sunday about the accounting method being used by the Republicans, which says the tax breaks from Trump's first term are now 'current policy' and the cost of extending them should not be counted toward deficits. She said that kind of 'magic math' won't fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books.
Yahoo
24 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Rep Dusty Johnson launches bid for South Dakota governor
South Dakota Rep. Dusty Johnson, the state's sole member of the House, has announced a run for governor. Johnson is chair of the House GOP's Main Street Caucus and a member of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. He has served in Congress since 2019, following a job as vice president at a South Dakota-based engineering and consulting firm. Prior to his role as an executive, Johnson also worked as South Dakota Public Utilities commissioner from 2005 to 2011, during which he was appointed chief of staff to former Gov. Dennis Daugaard. The announcement, deemed by local media as a "formality" after Johnson was already rumored to run, came Monday at a campaign event and was paired with a video the representative shared on social media. Key House Gop Moderate Don Bacon Won't Seek Re-election "I's been such an honor to work for you in Congress. We rolled up our sleeves and got things moving in the right direction, cutting trillions in wasteful spending, standing with President Trump to secure our border and finally getting tough on China," Johnson said. "Those were important fights to build a better country for our kids, but their future doesn't begin in some far away place. It begins here, at home, in South Dakota. That's why we need to hit the gas and give them a clear path to a bright future." Read On The Fox News App Trump Reacts To Tillis Not Seeking Re-election, Sends Warning To 'Cost Cutting Republicans' Following the announcement, criticism began popping up online that Johnson has not adequately supported President Donald Trump, and claims he is a "never-Trumper" are "lies of the desperate." "Here are the facts," Johnson told Fox News Digital. "Donald Trump has had me down to Mar-a-Lago. I've gone to the Super Bowl with President Trump. I donated $10,000 to his re-election campaign years ago. He endorsed me in my 2020 race. I was his state campaign chairman for his re-elect." Johnson added that he is someone who has "a long-standing, multi-year history of being a partner" with Trump. Johnson also said he has proven to be a "key ally" of House Speaker Mike Johnson, R–La., noting he was one of the members of Congress who "helped deliver the votes to get him elected speaker." On the fight in the Senate over the Trump-endorsed One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Johnson said he supports the version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives and expressed optimism it will get passed by the Senate by the GOP's self-imposed July 4 article source: Rep Dusty Johnson launches bid for South Dakota governor
