As Republicans took another step forward Tuesday on President Donald J. Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ig beautiful bill,鈥� 海角换妻鈥檚 senators are warning that the legislation would be a 鈥渉ealth care catastrophe鈥� for 海角换妻 and take an ax to other safety net programs.
After 11th-hour negotiations to secure support from holdouts, Senate Republicans narrowly passed sweeping legislation that would affect everything from taxes to energy to immigration and pare back some social services to pay for it.
The Senate vote was split 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie and casting the deciding vote. All Democrats voted against the bill and were joined by three Republicans. Senate leadership urged the House to support the amended bill this week.
鈥淚t鈥檚 been a long road to get to today,鈥� Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said after passage, noting that GOP members and staff worked on the foundation for the bill even before their victories in the November elections. 鈥淪ince we took office in January, Republicans have been laser-focused on achieving the bill before us today. And now we鈥檙e here, passing legislation that will permanently extend tax relief for hard-working Americans.鈥�
U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said Monday he didn鈥檛 know if Republicans had the votes to pass their bill. And early Tuesday, Senate GOP leadership wasn鈥檛 sure if they had consolidated the support needed. But that ended up coming together later in the morning. Republicans could only afford to lose a few votes and are trying to wrap up the entire process by Friday so Trump can sign it into law.
But Murphy noted even some Republicans are raising concerns about the effects of the bill, as evidenced by GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina saying he鈥檒l vote no and deciding to retire amid Trump鈥檚 threat to back a primary challenger against him. Tillis pointed to the deep cuts to Medicaid that could hit his home state.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a deeply unpopular bill. The Republican Senate offices are being lit up with phone calls and emails pleading that they don鈥檛 vote for this,鈥� Murphy told reporters Monday. 鈥淪o you鈥檙e seeing senators make some pretty stunning announcements as they figure out how terrible this bill will be for their state.鈥�
As the Senate made its way through a procedural vote and debate over the weekend, the bill entered the final stretch on Monday. Senators spent nearly 24 hours voting on amendments and motions during a marathon session referred to as a 鈥渧ote-a-rama.鈥� It went late into the night and finished early Tuesday as Senate leadership worked on wrangling more votes in behind-the-scenes negotiations.
Both of 海角换妻鈥檚 senators introduced amendments, but they were rejected. Murphy offered one that took out reductions to taxes on health care providers, which allow states to help fund Medicaid through federal funding, and replace it with a corporate tax increase. Blumenthal鈥檚 sought to block national security funds to be used on a Qatari jet given to Trump to use as Air Force One.
One GOP amendment scrapped a notable part of the bill that would have placed a moratorium on states imposing regulations of artificial intelligence and could have had implications on 海角换妻 bills regarding AI.
The Senate bill initially reduced the ban on state AI regulations from 10 years to five years. But after the compromise fell apart, senators almost unanimously voted to take it out of the bill completely.
Murphy and Blumenthal took issue with the ban, saying it would have impeded on state legislation, like a bill from state Sen. James Maroney, D-Milford. During the 海角换妻 General Assembly session, Senate Bill 2 passed the Senate in May, but faced a possible veto from Gov. Ned Lamont who worried it could discourage innovation.
Maroney called the now-defunct federal provision 鈥渁 significant overreach into states鈥� rights.鈥� His bill would have placed greater transparency on the use of AI and curbed the dissemination of deep-fake porn. Blumenthal has also been working on the issue at the federal level.
When that vote series concluded overnight, the Senate moved to final passage early Tuesday. The House will now need to take it up again later this week to approve the amended version or make its own changes. Republicans are trying to stick to their self-imposed deadline to get it to Trump by July 4.
鈥淲e are in effect mortgaging our country so that our children are going to have to pay more for tax breaks now going to the wealthy and right now the pain caused by this measure and the hurt and harm to everyday people in 海角换妻 is simply gargantuan,鈥� Blumenthal said Monday.
The bill is likely to have a significant impact on states and their own budgets as the federal government seeks to shift more costs over to them. If enacted, 海角换妻 could be on the hook for the first time ever in helping to cover the , formerly known as food stamps.
That has , with the possibility of wide-ranging cuts to federal funding as well as new cost-sharing plans in the tax bill.
鈥淧eople won鈥檛 see it for days or weeks, but eventually it will hit all of us, and it will hit our economy, because 海角换妻 will have to compensate for some of the loss of those hundreds of dollars that will no longer be coming from the federal government,鈥� Blumenthal said.
While passage through a full Congress is still not assured, Republicans are in the driver鈥檚 seat since they are using a fast-track process known as budget reconciliation. This allows them to bypass filibusters in the Senate and pass certain kinds of bills without relying on votes from Democrats.
As the vehicle for much of Trump鈥檚 second-term agenda, the 鈥淥ne Big Beautiful Bill Act鈥� seeks to extend the tax breaks in the 2017 tax law that passed during Trump鈥檚 first term and will expire at the end of the year. It would also steer billions of dollars in immigration funding, including money for a border wall and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. And it would phase out clean energy tax credits passed during the Biden administration related to electric vehicles and consumer tax credits.
Democrats, including 海角换妻鈥檚 congressional delegation, are opposed and didn鈥檛 have a role in crafting the bill. They argue it will disproportionately benefit wealthier Americans and big corporations, balloon the national debt and cut critical services.
The legislation looks different in various ways than the .鈥�
The legislation would make many of the tax breaks permanent from 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including lower income tax rates. A number of tax provisions were amended or narrowed in the Senate bill.
The House bill raised the $10,000 threshold on deductions for state and local taxes, or SALT, to $40,000, which would get phased out for those who make over $500,000. Both caps would increase by 1% through 2033. But the Senate version only raises the cap through 2029 and would have it return to the current threshold after that.
If the cap increases, it will be especially beneficial for higher cost-of-living states like 海角换妻. In 2022, state taxpayers had the highest average SALT deduction, around $9,100, just under the current $10,000 cap, . That year, 11% of the state鈥檚 returns claimed SALT, one of the highest rates in the U.S.
Workers would be able to deduct overtime pay or tips from their federal income tax, but unlike the House bill, the Senate imposed caps on those deductions. And people could deduct up to $10,000 of interest on their auto loans as long as the vehicle was assembled in the U.S., but the Senate added into its bill that the car must be new. All three tax breaks would last through 2028.
Families would get to claim a slightly higher child tax credit. The House bill would have increased the rebate to $2,500 through 2028 and then go back down to $2,000 and indexed for inflation. It also required parents who filed taxes jointly to have Social Security numbers. The Senate changed it so that the tax credit is permanently at $2,200 starting in 2026, and only one parent needs to have a Social Security number.
Under the House bill, seniors who are 65 and older with low to middle incomes will be able to make an additional $4,000 deduction. The Senate bill increases it to $6,000.
To pay for these tax provisions, the bill includes steep spending cuts, which would have a direct impact on some safety net programs and state finances.
To qualify for Medicaid as an adult under 65, a recipient would need to work or participate in training, education or community service at least 80 hours a month. Exemptions are made for certain groups including those who are pregnant or postpartum, Medicare recipients, veterans, caregivers and people with disabilities. States would be required to check on eligibility more often.
The Senate鈥檚 bill instead imposes work requirements on adults with children who are 14 years and older. It also adds a provision that blocks Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood for one year. Federal law already prohibits funding going toward abortions with a few exceptions, but it could threaten other services those clinics provide like cancer screenings, birth control and other types of routine care.
The Senate bill would also lower the cap on provider taxes, which is a mechanism that enables states to increase the amount of Medicaid funding they receive from the federal government.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, which analyzes and scores federal legislation, estimated that about 138,000 people in 海角换妻, with the higher end of enrollment loss up to 172,000. That estimate is based off of the House version of the bill.
Others in the state could also face major changes to their health insurance due to revisions to enrollment in the Affordable Care Act marketplace as well as new paperwork requirements that could delay tax credits to help pay for premiums for some enrollees.
On SNAP benefits, more older Americans would need to work or train at least 80 hours a month. The bill raises the age limit for able-bodied adults without dependents from 54 to 64. But the Senate version has less stringent work requirements than the House bill. It would instead apply to able-bodied adults who have children 14 and older.
States like 海角换妻 would need to pay a portion of for the first time in the program鈥檚 history. That has raised concerns about potential benefit cuts if states cannot fill in the gap. But the Senate version is also less strict on cost sharing with states, though they would still pay a portion of the benefits based on error rate payments.
House leadership will be doing another temperature check on whether their members can support what the Senate did 鈥� or if skeptical members will push for additional changes. The House will take up the legislation Wednesday at the earliest.
鈥淲e鈥檙e going to fight this bill until the end,鈥� Murphy said, noting ongoing concerns from Republicans in the House over changes made by the Senate.
鈥淭hey still have a long way to go. We were able to kill their attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act back in 2017,鈥� he added. 鈥淏oth Dick [Blumenthal] and I were part of that effort, and we鈥檙e not going to rest until this bill is on the president鈥檚 desk.鈥�
The 海角换妻 Mirror/海角换妻 Radio federal policy reporter position is made possible, in part, by funding from the Robert and Margaret Patricelli Family Foundation.
