Senate passes Trump tax bill
Senate Republicans voted Tuesday to push through a major package to advance President Trump's tax agenda, after leaders worked throughout the weekend and a 27-hour marathon voting session to win the support of holdouts.
© Greg Nash
Vice President Vance cast the tiebreaking vote as Senate Republicans delivered a huge legislative victory for Trump by passing his One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.
The legislation appeared to be on the cusp of failing on the floor after Senate GOP leaders spent hours trying to hash out a compromise with Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, an independent-minded Republican who worried the legislation's deep cuts to Medicaid and federal food assistance funding would hurt her home state.
Murkowski told reporters after the final vote that it was an 'agonizing' process.
'Rather than taking the deliberative approach to good legislating, we rushed to get a product out. This is important. I want to make sure that we're able to keep in place the tax cuts from the 2017 [Tax Cuts and] Jobs Act,' she said, explaining her support for the bill and why it was hard for her to come around to voting yes.
The sprawling package faces challenges in the House due to deeper cuts to federal Medicaid spending, an accelerated phaseout of clean-energy tax breaks and changes to a deal to raise the cap on state and local tax deductions.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) held a call Monday afternoon to assuage GOP colleagues concerned about the Medicaid cuts.
The Hill's Alex Bolton has more here.
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Tax Watch
House conservatives threaten revolt over Trump bill
A handful of hardline House conservatives are threatening to tank a Wednesday procedural vote for the party's 'big, beautiful bill,' a revolt that would bring the lower chamber to a screeching halt and potentially derail GOP leadership's plan of clearing the legislation by July 4.
Rep. Andy Harris (R-Tenn.), the chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the group, both announced Tuesday that they will vote against a procedural rule — which sets parameters for debate — for the megabill because of their opposition to several parts of the sprawling package.
Republicans can only afford to lose three votes and still clear the procedural hurdle, assuming full attendance and all Democrats voting 'no.' Harris said other members are considering joining their effort against the rule.
'That's exactly why a group of us are not gonna vote to advance the bill until we iron out some of the deficit problems with the bills,' Harris said on Fox News when asked about Elon Musk's criticism of the bill.
'Look, Mr. Musk is right, we cannot sustain these deficits, he understands finances, he understands debts and deficits, and we have to make further progress. And I believe the Freedom Caucus will take the lead in making that further progress.'
The Hill's Mychael Schnell has more here.
Tax Watch is a regular feature focused on the fight over tax reform and extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts this year. Email a tip
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What made the cut in Senate's nearly 1,000-page policy megabill?
Senate Republicans on Tuesday jammed through a major package advancing President Trump's tax priorities, paid for by a host of cuts to the social safety net, including Medicaid and food assistance. The bill also slashes green energy and includes changes to student loan programs. Read more
Senate megabill marks biggest Medicaid cuts in history
Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed the largest cuts to Medicaid since the program began in the 1960s, a move that would erode the social safety net and cause a spike in the number of uninsured Americans over the next decade. Read more
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