Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ pits Senate GOP moderates against conservatives

May 28, 2025May 28, 2025 News, Senate

Senate Republicans are deeply divided over President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which the House passed by a single vote last week, setting up a battle in the upper chamber between moderates and conservatives that is likely to drag on well into July.

GOP senators are vowing to rewrite the bill, but they’re still weeks away from putting together a package that can muster the 51 votes it needs to pass, according to GOP senators and aides.

The more senators change...

Budget bill faces Senate opposition over Medicaid

May 23, 2025May 23, 2025 Donald Trump, GOP, health care, medicaid, News, Senate

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These are the changes Senate Republicans are eyeing for the GOP’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

May 23, 2025May 23, 2025 health care, News, Senate

Senate Republicans say they’re going to rewrite the 1,116-page bill the House narrowly passed Thursday to enact President Trump’s agenda.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) urged GOP senators at a meeting Tuesday to keep their changes to the bill as minimal as possible to avoid wrecking the delicate compromises he cobbled together in the House to muster 215 votes for the legislation.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), however, told reporters that the Senate wil...

GOP senators raise red flags over House’s ambitious Trump legislative package

May 14, 2025May 14, 2025 health care, News, Senate

An ambitious House bill to cut taxes by hundreds of billions of dollars and pay for part of it by slashing Medicaid spending faces a rocky path in the Senate, where Republican lawmakers warn the changes to the safety net program could hurt rural hospitals and reduce benefits for their constituents.

Republican senators are also raising red flags about the House plan’s phase-out of renewable energy tax credits and what they’re calling an inadequate attempt to reduce the ballo...

Hawley warns GOP Medicaid cuts are ‘morally wrong and politically suicidal’

May 12, 2025May 12, 2025 health care, medicaid, News, Senate

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is warning against his own party’s push to slash Medicaid spending, just hours after House Republicans released legislation that could save billions of dollars and make millions of people lose health insurance coverage.

Hawley wrote in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times that paying for President Trump’s domestic agenda by slashing health care for the working poor “is both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”
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Is Ted Cruz running again? Texas carves out unique lane in Trump’s GOP

April 18, 2025April 17, 2025 News, Senate

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who finished in second place to President Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential primary, has distinguished himself from MAGA World by declaring his skepticism of long-term tariffs, remaining a hawk on Russia and coming out against proposals to tax the rich.

By calling out tariffs as “taxes on American consumers” and sticking to his view that Russia poses a serious threat to U.S. interests, Cruz may be laying the groundwork to run against Trump’s he...

Senate GOP divided over House demands for spending cuts

April 11, 2025April 11, 2025 News, Senate

Senate Republicans are deeply divided over demands by House conservatives to cut at least $1.5 trillion, and possibly more, from the federal budget over the next decade, putting Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) in a tough position.

Thune acknowledged to reporters Thursday that his Senate GOP colleagues are divided over how much to cut from the federal budget to offset the cost of extending President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and other Trump priorities.

The Hill

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Senate confirms Oz as head of CMS along party lines

April 3, 2025April 3, 2025 health care, medicaid, Medicare, News, Senate

The Senate has confirmed Mehmet Oz as administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), making him the head of Medicaid at a time where its funding is at risk of being severely cut.

The Senate voted 53-45 along party lines to confirm Oz.

The heart-surgeon-turned-celebrity-physician faced intense questioning by Democrats in the Senate Finance Committee. Oz often dodged providing specific answers, providing generalities.

The fo...

Senate Republicans eye budget resolution vote this week with reduced spending cuts

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 News, Senate

Senate Republicans are hoping to vote on a budget resolution this week that would pave the way for President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” encompassing tax cuts, border security and energy extraction.

Senators say the resolution calls for far fewer budget cuts to offset the cost of desired tax cuts than the analogous bill passed in February by the House, setting up a fight between the chambers about how much the legislation could add to the deficit.

The House and Sen...

Senate Republicans eye budget resolution vote this week with reduced spending cuts

April 2, 2025April 2, 2025 News, Senate

Senate Republicans are hoping to vote on a budget resolution this week that would pave the way for President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” encompassing tax cuts, border security and energy extraction.

Senators say the resolution calls for far fewer budget cuts to offset the cost of desired tax cuts than the analogous bill passed in February by the House, setting up a fight between the chambers about how much the legislation could add to the deficit.

The House and Sen...