Latest news with #MikeJohnson
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill' might be unloved and a mess – but it will still probably pass
President Donald Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' – which he on Thursday dubbed the 'ultimate codification' of the MAGA agenda – is a paradox that shows how power works in a broken political system in which he's the single greatest force. As it stumbles through the Senate, the bill – which extends vast tax cuts, hikes border security funding and includes historic cuts to Medicaid – is perpetually on life support as chunks keep getting culled to fit the chamber's budgetary rules. Growing numbers of Republican lawmakers required to pass the measure hate it. The public doesn't want it – according to a Quinnipiac University poll released earlier this month, voters oppose the measure by 53% to 27%. The survey is no outlier. Who can really say what is left in the bill after days of Senate wrangling? It's barely recognizable from the one the House passed. That's trouble for Speaker Mike Johnson, who is under great pressure to get whatever the Senate produces back through the House before Trump's July Fourth deadline. As Republicans race to pass the bill, those in swing seats may be casting a vote that they can't avoid but that could cost them their jobs. It's possible the measure could become one of those presidential vanity projects that lose the House majority, if Democrats flip the chamber in next year's midterm elections. But despite its many liabilities, you can take this to the bank: Something will pass, even if some White House priorities get pared back. And Trump will declare whatever lands on his desk one of the most important pieces of legislation in US history. The MAGA agenda measure has become imperative to Trump's prestige. It's too big and beautiful to fail. Trump is even more sensitive to such markers of success than most presidents. And recent history suggests his hold over the GOP base may cause most holdouts to cave in the end. The president has strong-armed vast political change already, using expansive executive power in a blitz that has triggered multiple court challenges. But legislation is the way to make reforms stick. And his description of the bill as the 'codification' of the MAGA project is about right. The measure is critical to boosting funding and manpower for the president's mass deportation plans. It also withdraws swaths of benefits for certain categories of migrants. It includes one of Trump's favorite campaign promises: the exemption from taxes for overtime and tips. In another nod to the president's populist origins, the White House has argued that the bill supports Main Street over Wall Street, touting support for family farms, housing affordability and new Trump investment accounts for newborns. The administration says that the typical family with two kids would have a take-home pay raise of between $7,600 and $10,900 and claims the bill would save or create roughly 7 million jobs. But as is the case with most big budget bills, all this relies on creative mathematics, rosy assumptions of growth and low inflation. And like Trump's tax bill in his first term, this measure is a feint that reveals the limits of his populism since it rewards higher earners handsomely. And the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the House version of the bill would boost the deficit by $2.4 trillion. Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin told CNN's Jake Tapper on Thursday that Trump was trying to disguise a transfer of wealth to the rich with populist flourishes. 'He's thrown in some little pieces here and there that will be, I think, really important but, man, he is preferencing the very wealthy in this bill, and he's trying to hide it by becoming the middle-class hero. We need to call him out on that.' Politically, the White House is eyeing a potential purple patch for the president. If it can add the measure to what it claims is the obliteration of Iran's nuclear program and a pledge by NATO members to up their defense spending to 5% of GDP, it would create an undeniably full second-term legacy for the president. Trump held a White House event Thursday that was meant to heap pressure on GOP critics of the legislation, but ended up sounding more like a victory lap, punctuated with Trump's characteristic digressions about his obsessions: former President Joe Biden, 'crooked elections' and the participation of transgender women in sports. At times, it was almost as if Trump thought the bill had already passed: He hailed 'one of the most important pieces of legislation in the history of our country and that's everybody saying that, virtually everybody.' And he added, 'The 'One Big, Beautiful Bill' to secure our borders, turbocharge our economy and bring back the American Dream – it's met with tremendous approval and reception.' The mood of celebration at the White House contrasted with the growing acrimony on Capitol Hill as Republicans clashed with Republicans. Democrats are powerless bystanders in the fight. But they are watching and waiting to blast the GOP for throttling Medicaid and making the rich richer in next year's midterm elections. Trump's demand for a 'big, beautiful bill' signing by America's birthday is now in peril. The timeline, which was already ambitious, took a hit with the latest decision by the Senate's top rules official that a multibillion-dollar slice of the measure was not allowed under reconciliation – the intricate process used to pass a bill with a simple majority, in this case with only GOP support. More bad news for GOP Majority leader John Thune: Thursday's ruling concerned one of the most politically explosive aspects of the bill – a change to taxes that states can impose to pay for Medicaid coverage. This comes against the backdrop of the bill's Medicaid spending cuts of hundreds of billions over a decade. Several prominent GOP senators, including Josh Hawley of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine, who faces a tough reelection bid next year, have warned they won't vote for the bill if it contains these tax maneuvers. They say the measure could be devastating to rural hospitals, especially in many red states. This latest roadblock left Thune racing for a fix. But every modification to the bill could make it potentially an even more bitter pill for House lawmakers, especially conservative budget hawks, who say they are ready to defy Trump. 'Everything is challenging, but they're all speed bumps,' Thune told reporters on Thursday. 'We have contingency plans, plan B and plan C. We'll continue to litigate it,' he said. In normal circumstances, this wouldn't be too much of a problem. It's a rule of thumb on the Hill that bills often look like they are coming apart at the seams right up to the moment that they make it to their final votes. But Trump's craving for a July Fourth celebration is making things much harder. Thune would have to get the bill out of the Senate by the weekend. Then Johnson would have to rally his tiny, restive majority to jam it through, using the carrot of getting lawmakers home to the kids in time for the fireworks. The speaker could try to appease anger among his members over Senate changes to the bill by entering a conference with the other chamber to negotiate. But that could take days or weeks, meaning that Trump's plans for a bill-signing by America's 249th birthday would be spoiled. But some Republicans, who often talk a good game on opposing the president but end up caving under the MAGA heat, say the classic strategy of pressuring members with a bill that the president demands won't work this time. Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri told CNN's Manu Raju that it was not responsible for leadership to agree a deal behind closed doors and then put it to a vote. 'That's what Washington is good at, is kind of jamming people last-minute, giving you something you haven't had time to read, haven't had time to get reflection or input from your district,' he said, adding, 'It's not ideal.' The Trump-era Republican Party has made a brand of breaking the rules in Washington – it's why it's so popular with grassroots conservatives, whose frustration the president has harnessed to his benefit. Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville hit out at the current parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough for a series of decisions that made the 'big, beautiful bill' a bit smaller this week, in an X post reverberating with MAGA applause lines 'The WOKE Senate Parliamentarian, who was appointed by Harry Reid and advised Al Gore, just STRUCK DOWN a provision BANNING illegals from stealing Medicaid from American citizens. This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP,' Tuberville wrote. The president, meanwhile, has little patience for anything that slows the bill – an amalgam of MAGA priorities being shoved through as one massive potential law because of fears that the Republican House majority is so brittle it will bear only a limited number of critical votes. 'We don't want to have grandstanders,' he said Thursday. 'They do it to grandstand, that's all. Not good people. They know who I'm talking about. I call them out, but we don't need grandstanders.'
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
WA's Newhouse says he won't vote for GOP mega-bill if it calls for public land sales
Rep. Dan Newhouse (R-WA), seen during a July 2019 hearing on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., was reelected in the 2024 election to a sixth term in the U.S. House. Washington U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse says he won't back the sweeping tax cut and spending bill his fellow Republicans are trying to push through Congress if it includes controversial provisions to sell off federal public land. Newhouse and four other Republicans in the U.S. House stated their opposition to the potential land sales in a Thursday letter to House Speaker Mike Johnson. 'If a provision to sell public lands is in the bill that reaches the House floor, we will be forced to vote no,' says the letter, which was also signed by Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., Rep. Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, Rep. Cliff Bentz, R-Oregon, and Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif. Republicans hold a narrow 220-212 majority in the House, and their 'One Big Beautiful Bill' squeaked through that chamber by just a single vote in May. Before it did, Republicans scrapped a proposal to make 500,000 acres of public land in Nevada and Utah available for sale. The sweeping budget legislation is now under consideration in the Senate, where Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, introduced a scaled-up version of the land sale proposal earlier this month. It would've made millions of acres of U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management property in Washington and other states eligible for sale. Earlier this week, the nonpartisan Senate parliamentarian ruled the language of Lee's original proposition was out of order. However, Lee has said he wants to press ahead with a narrower version of the plan that would still put thousands of acres of Bureau of Land Management property up for sale in 11 Western states, including Washington. Newhouse and the four other Republicans said in their letter to Johnson that they 'generally accept changes to the bill that may be made by the Senate.' But they added: 'We cannot accept the sale of federal lands that Senator Lee seeks.' They said efforts by Lee to add a land sale proposal into the bill 'would be a grave mistake, unforced error, and poison pill that will cause the bill to fail should it come to the House floor.' A spokesman for Newhouse's office said Friday the congressman did not have any comment on the issue beyond what was said in the letter. 6.26.25 Public Lands Letter A copy of the letter that U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse and four other House Republicans sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson on June 26, 2025.
Axios
16 hours ago
- Politics
- Axios
Exclusive: Republican governors want state AI pause out of budget bill
A group of 17 Republican governors wrote to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson on Friday calling for the state AI bill moratorium to be stripped from the reconciliation bill. The big picture: Many Republican-run states have passed AI-related laws and don't want to see them knocked down. The letter is led by Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and signed by the governors of Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming. The governors wrote in the letter that the provision "threatens to undo all the work states have done to protect our citizens from the misuse of artificial intelligence." Catch up quick: Earlier on Friday, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the provision does not violate the Byrd Rule as long as its conditions only apply to a $500 million pot of AI deployment grants. Sanders wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post against the AI moratorium earlier this week. What they're saying:"In just the past year, states have led on smart regulations of the AI industry that simultaneously protect consumers while also encouraging this ever-developing and critical sector," the governors write.
CNN
17 hours ago
- Business
- CNN
Senate barrels toward weekend vote on Trump agenda as GOP support still in limbo
Senate Republicans are barreling toward a critical vote on President Donald Trump's agenda on Saturday, with GOP leaders pressuring their members to support a bill that has yet to be fully drafted. Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his leadership team informed their members at a private meeting Friday that they aimed to hold their first vote to advance the bill Saturday at noon, according to multiple GOP senators. 'We got a few things we're waiting on, outcomes from the parliamentarian … but if we could get some of those questions, issues landed then my expectation is at some point tomorrow we'll be ready to go,' Thune said. But it is not yet clear if enough Senate Republicans will support the plan to pass it. 'We will find out tomorrow,' Thune said. Thune and his team are still working to resolve some of the thorniest issues, including how to win over centrists who are concerned about cuts to Medicaid or other safety net programs while appeasing fiscal hawks who have demanded their party go even further with those cuts. Thune himself acknowledged that holding a vote midday Saturday was 'aspirational' and added: 'We'll see.' The South Dakota Republican outlined the tentative plan during a Friday meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson and the treasury secretary, part of a full-court press by GOP leaders and Trump's team to line up the GOP behind the bill. GOP leaders know that a lot needs to fall in place for that Saturday vote: Their party is still rewriting key parts of the bill to comply with the chamber's special budget rules and has yet to release final text. If all goes to plan, though, the Senate would vote on final passage sometime in the middle of the night Saturday or Sunday morning. And if successful, the House would return mid-week to take up the bill with the hope of Trump signing it at the White House on July 4. At least one GOP senator is still publicly chafing at that plan: Kentucky's Rand Paul, who was sharply critical of the new spending in the bill as he emerged from the GOP meeting. 'The car is still speeding off the cliff,' Paul said, saying it would do nothing to rein in deficits. Senior Republicans have been anticipating that on the vote they may lose Paul, who strongly opposed parts of the bill, including raising the nation's debt limit. But if that happens, Thune can only lose two more GOP votes and still pass the bill. One other key vote, centrist Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, told reporters Friday she's still waiting to see details of GOP's plans on nutritional assistance programs, known as SNAP. She would not say if she is leaning for or against the bill. One of the biggest hurdles for Republicans is the race to rewrite text in compliance with the Senate's complex budget rules, which are governed by the nonpartisan parliamentarian. In recent days, the parliamentarian has ruled against key GOP provisions — from the so-called provider tax, which helps states fund their Medicaid programs to some provisions of a government spectrum auction. That forces the Senate GOP to dial back those provisions, or else Trump's bill would be subject to a Democratic filibuster. Senate GOP leaders are aiming to release a mostly final version of the bill Friday night, but the full version may not be ready before the Saturday vote, since the Senate Finance Committee is still furiously working to make sure its language complies with the budget rules. 'The vast majorities of issues have been resolved and some of this will be done in parallel working here for the sake of time. But I think we're going to get there,' Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said, adding that the Senate has gotten through '90 to 95%' of the parliamentarian's process, also known as a 'Byrd bath,' named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a Senate rules enthusiast. Multiple GOP senators dismissed concerns about speeding ahead with the vote without final text in hand. 'We discussed this thing ad nauseam,' Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno said, estimating that Republicans have met on this bill for 'thousands' of hours so far this year. 'The final tax is not out. But we know where we are going.' Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri added: 'When you have legislation like this, you're going to have things you need to work through until the very end.'
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
'Very close to a final product': Senate GOP version of Trump's bill near finish line
With a week until a July Fourth deadline for Congress to get President Donald Trump's megabill passed, Senate Republicans are going over the final sticking points -- with the end in sight and a potential vote this weekend. On Friday afternoon, Senate Republicans met with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who called the passage of the bill the "single most important economic thing we're going to do this year." House Speaker Mike Johnson chewed over the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with Senate Republicans at the closed-door lunch on Friday, telling reporters afterward that the Senate's version of the legislation is almost done. "We had a great discussion about a lot of important issues, and I feel like we're getting very close to a final product," Johnson said as he left the meeting. MORE: Senate GOP 'frustrated' by parliamentarian's Medicaid ruling in Trump's bill -- but won't overrule her While the Senate grapples with the state and local tax provision, Johnson said he believes senators are "very, very close to closing that issue out." The Senate version of the bill is expected to hit the Senate floor on Saturday afternoon. It begins with a procedural vote on the motion to proceed to the bill, which requires a simple majority of votes to pass. Assuming the bill gets the necessary votes to proceed, there are up to 20 hours of debate, evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans will likely yield back most of their ten hours. Democrats will likely use close to all of it. After an unlimited series of amendment votes, the Senate could vote on the final passage of the bill at some point on Sunday. Still, some roadblocks remain. The Senate parliamentarian on Thursday rejected a Medicaid provision in the bill, which is a major blow to Senate Republicans' efforts. Also, Senate Majority Leader John Thune can afford to lose only three Republican votes when the bill goes to the Senate floor, given unified Democratic opposition in the Senate. "All of it depends on…we've got a few things we're waiting on, outcomes from the parliamentarian on, but if we could get some of those questions issues landed, and my expectation is at some point tomorrow, we'll be ready to go," Thune said Friday. Johnson and Thune met with Trump Thursday night in the Oval Office about the tax and immigration bill as Congress barrels toward its self-imposed Fourth of July deadline. "We had a long discussion about … where the bill stands and its status. And they are -- we are very, very close, and Leader Thune has confidence that they could get the job done by this weekend, and we certainly are hopeful for that," Johnson said about the Thursday meeting. Earlier Friday, Johnson suggested the Fourth of July deadline could slide, saying "it's possible" that the deadline could change -- although he said he wanted to remain committed to the July Fourth goal. However, later in the day, Johnson stuck to Independence Day. "That's been our goal all along, and it hasn't changed," the speaker said, adding that "the House is ready to act as soon as the Senate does." MORE: Trump admin live updates: Trump says he's ending trade talks with Canada After fudging his long-standing, self-imposed July Fourth deadline for Congress to pass his massive immigration and tax bill, Trump later doubled down on the date in a social media post. "The House of Representatives must be ready to send it to my desk before July 4th -- We can get it done," the president wrote. Earlier, when asked about the deadline during a news conference in the White House briefing room, the president said "it's not the end all" and that "it can go longer." On Thursday, congressional leaders and the administration touted the benefits of the package during a celebration in the East Room of the White House. MORE: Trump says no vacations until Congress passes his megabill As the Senate aims to move forward this weekend with the megabill, House leaders told members in a formal notice "pending Senate action on H.R. 1, votes on the One Big Beautiful Bill are expected in the House next week" -- interrupting a planned weeklong Independence Day recess. "Further information regarding the timing of votes will be provided as soon as possible, and Members will be given a minimum of 48 hours' notice prior to any votes in the House," the notice states. Earlier this week, Trump told members of Congress that they would have to forgo vacations to get the bill to his desk. "To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don't go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK," Trump posted on his social media platform. "Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT'S DONE."
