Republicans Push Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” To Its Limit – President Donald Trump’s top legislative priority, a sweeping tax and spending package dubbed the “big, beautiful bill,” is facing growing resistance from his own party in the Senate, where fiscal conservatives warn they will block it unless major changes are made.
Chief among their concerns?
The national debt.
Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Isn’t A Lock to Pass
Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Rand Paul of Kentucky, both long-time deficit hawks, said on Sunday that the bill in its current form is not financially responsible and requires major changes.
Johnson argued that the bill would add $4 trillion to the deficit, a figure he obtained from the Congressional Budget Office.
Paul, who was already on the record opposing the bill in full, said that he might only reconsider if debt ceiling language in the legislation is removed and new cuts are implemented.
Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Paul said that the “math doesn’t add up” and that “there’s got to be someone left in Washington who thinks debt is wrong and deficits are wrong.”
The bill, which passed the House by a single vote last Thursday, extends Trump-era tax cuts in exchange for around $1 trillion in benefit reductions.
Cuts to major programs like Medicaid and SNAP, however, have not done enough to satisfy libertarian-leaning senators who believe the bill should be more fiscally conservative.
Medicaid Cuts Spark Backlash
Beyond disagreements over the deficit, the “big, beautiful bill” contains provisions to cut Medicaid – a move that has some Republican senators concerned.
Missouri’s Senator Josh Hawley warned that the decision would amount to “slashing health insurance for the working poor” and that it would ultimately prove “politically suicidal.”
Long-time Trump opponent Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska also expressed concerns about the decision.
Under the bill’s proposals, more than 7 million Americans risk losing coverage under the proposed changes. The decision has been so controversial that even long-time Trump allies like Steve Bannon have warned that many Trump voters depend on Medicaid and could be pushed away from the movement.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, however, has urged the Senate to tread lightly and indicated that any major changes to the bill could unravel the delicate balance that allowed it to pass in the House in the first place. Senate Republicans have not been deterred or discouraged, however, with talk about modifying green energy tax credits and adjusting local tax deduction caps already underway.
Meanwhile, Democrats remain universally opposed to the legislation, making the path forward for the legislation particularly precarious for the Republicans. With a July deadline to raise the debt ceiling looming, Trump may soon have big decisions to make.
About the Author:
Georgia Gilholy is a journalist based in the United Kingdom who has been published in Newsweek, The Times of Israel, and the Spectator. Gilholy writes about international politics, culture, and education.
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