U.S. Senate Republicans scheduled a vote for Saturday on President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill after incorporating changes to address concerns over rural hospital funding and state tax deductions.
Several Republican senators who had previously expressed hesitancy about voting for the bill told reporters that their concerns had been assuaged and that they were ready to vote to clear a first procedural hurdle in the coming hours.
The bill is Trump’s top legislative goal. With his fellow Republicans controlling both chambers, Congress has so far not rejected any of Trump’s priorities.
The 940-page megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump’s main legislative achievement during his first term as president, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security.
Nonpartisan analysts estimate that a version passed by the House of Representatives last month would add about $3 trillion to the $36.2 trillion U.S. government debt.
The Congressional Budget Office has not released a forecast for how much the Senate version – still subject to change – would add to the debt if enacted.
The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget public policy organisation on Saturday said its preliminary estimate is that the Senate version would add $4 trillion to the debt over the next decade, including interest costs.
“If you thought the House bill borrowed too much – and it did – the Senate manages to make things even worse,” Maya MacGuineas, the group’s president, said in a statement.
The White House said this month that the legislation, titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, would reduce the annual deficit by $1.4 trillion.
Democrats opposed the bill, saying its tax-cut elements would disproportionately benefit the wealthy at the expense of social programmes relied upon by lower-income Americans.
Republican Disagreements
Republican Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri and Susan Collins of Maine, who had opposed concerns about tax-code changes that could hurt rural hospitals, told reporters they were ready to move forward.
A successful vote would kick off a lengthy process that could run into Sunday, as Democrats unveil a series of amendments unlikely to pass in a chamber that Republicans control 53-47.
“By passing this bill now, we will make our nation more prosperous and secure,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham said in a statement accompanying the bill text.
“It is hard to believe that Republican Senators – in the dead of night – made the bill even worse than their initial awful proposal,” top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wrote on social media on Saturday. “This bill virtually wipes out all wind and solar. We have to fight it.”
Medicaid Changes
Republicans from states with large rural populations have opposed a reduction in state tax revenue for Medicaid providers, including rural hospitals. The newly released legislation would delay that reduction and would include $25 billion to support rural Medicaid providers from 2028 to 2032.
“If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to get and deliver for working-class people,” Hawley told reporters. “You cannot take away healthcare for working people.”
The legislation would raise the cap on federal deductions for state and local taxes to $40,000 with an annual 1% inflation adjustment through 2029, after which it would fall back to the current $10,000. The bill would also phase the cap down for those earning more than $500,000 a year.
That is a major concern of House Republicans from coastal states, including New York, New Jersey and California, who play an important role in keeping the party’s narrow House majority.
Republicans are using a legislative manoeuvre to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to advance most legislation in the 100-member chamber.
Narrow Path
The narrow majorities for Republicans in the Senate and House mean they can afford no more than three no votes from the party in either chamber to advance a bill that Democrats are united in opposing.
Democrats will focus their firepower with amendments aimed at reversing Republican spending cuts to programs that provide government-backed healthcare to the elderly, poor and disabled, as well as food aid to low-income families.
The bill also would raise the Treasury Department’s debt ceiling by trillions of dollars to stave off a potentially disastrous default on the nation’s debt in the coming months.
If the Senate manages to pass the bill by early next week, the House would be poised to quickly apply the final stamp of approval, sending it to Trump for signing into law.
(With inputs from Reuters)
