Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' still shrinking. What else has been cut?

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

"Now we have the opportunity to pass a bill that advances all of these priorities and sets our country up for better days ahead," Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said during a June 27 floor speech.
More: Big Beautiful Bill 101: What you need to know about Trump's tax bill
The Republican-controlled chamber has hit several speed bumps along the way, however, not due to resistant Democrats, who flatly oppose major portions of Trump's agenda, or reluctant GOP members who aren't satisfied with the cost reductions.
Instead it has been the chamber's referee, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, acting as the proposal's greatest obstacle by ruling that many Republican-sought provisions violate the Byrd Rule, which prescribes which bills can pass with a simple 51-vote majority or require the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster. The basics: To avoid a filibuster, all the provisions of a bill must directly impact the federal budget.
The parliamentarian's initial decisions mean Republicans have yanked out efforts to curb environmental regulations; restrict federal judges' powers; bulk up immigration enforcement; and cut funding from a consumer protection agency. She also ruled against provisions that would've cut Medicaid spending on health care programs for undocumented immigrants.
"We have been successful in removing parts of this bill that hurt families and workers, but the process is not over, and Democrats are continuing to make the case against every provision in this big, beautiful betrayal of a bill that violates Senate rules," Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said in a press release.
In response, Senate Republicans and the White House are cooking up alternative proposals to major sections in order to reach their budget savings goals and meet other promises while keeping anxious caucus members in their herd.
"This bill delivers on the mandate the American people gave Republicans last year... It's right around the corner," Thune said.
But as the Senate GOP scrambles to help get the proposal to the president's desk with a marathon of votes expected this weekend, the parliamentarian determined in recent days there are still more provisions in violation of the critical Senate rule named after the late-Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia.
Here's what else is coming out and coming back to the massive measure.
Asylum-seeker fees and other immigration reforms
One item that is bound to fire up the MAGA base that is being yanked out of the mega-bill are various new fees on migrants seeking asylum in the U.S., which is part of the Trump administration's larger anti-immigration crackdown.
The Senate parliamentarian ruled against various provisions that Republicans were touting such as an attempt to charge migrants a $1,000 fee when applying for asylum; a $100 fee on migrants who request a continuance in immigration court; a $250 fee for applying to the diversity visa lottery; and a $400 fee to process diversity visa applications.
She also struck out language that would have required a $5,000 bond to sponsor an unaccompanied child who fails to appear in immigration court and language speeding up the removal of non-citizens who are arrested for allegedly breaking laws that were strengthened by the bipartisan Laken Riley Act Trump signed earlier this year.
Auctioning broadband spectrum
Republicans had been working for months behind the scenes on a plan that supporters of the bill said would free up hundreds of megahertz of wireless spectrum and raise needed revenue.
Under the Senate's proposed bill, the federal government would give a green light to the Federal Communications Commission to auction 600 megahertz of spectrum through 2034, which lawmakers in favor said would rake in $85 billion to help offset the Trump tax cuts.
Others point out it would be a big win for mobile carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile who want a licensed system to continue after the FCC's ability to auction off spectrum expired in 2023.
But the parliamentarian advised that the idea must go through a different legislative process requiring a filibuster-proof vote.
NASA space vehicle transfer
One tiny provision you may not have heard about in the massive proposal is a plan to relocate the Space Shuttle Discovery - the most utilized orbiter in U.S. history - from the Smithsonian's air and space museum outside Washington, D.C., to a non-profit in Texas.
Moving the 172,000-pound NASA shuttle, which flew 39 Earth-orbital missions and spent 365 days in space, appears to cost roughly $85 million. It's a major priority for Texas Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Ted Cruz, who filed a bill in April seeking to transfer the behemoth to a place near NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.
The Space Shuttle Discovery is the only shuttle still owned by the federal government.
A.I. moratorium returns
It wasn't all bad news for Senate Republicans, however, as the chamber's referee ruled June 27 that a provision prohibiting states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade can remain in the package.
The Senate version is looking to dole out $500 million to a program dedicated to increasing broadband access and that specifies that money can be used for developing A.I. models and systems, which is a rapidly developing technology.
MacDonough initially expressed concern that the provision, siding with Democrats who asserted it would break the Byrd rule by impacting $42 billion in broadband funding. But she later said that specific language won't violate the rule as long as the legislation applies to the new $500 million spending provided in the reconciliation bill.