Senate Republicans Leave Town With Little Progress Made on the One Big Beautiful Bill

The White House is pouring all of its effort into getting a deal with Republicans on Capitol Hill to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Yet despite visits from Vice President Vance and the White House chief of staff, Susie Wiles, senators are stuck debating issues big and small. On Wednesday, they left town for the week. Republican members of the Senate have been meeting for hours on end this past week as they try to crank out an agreement that will satisfy both moderates and hardline conservatives, not only in their chamber but in the House as well. The largest portion of the bill, which was rewritten by the Senate Finance Committee this week, deals with everything from taxes to clean energy credits to Medicaid. After the text of that section was released Monday night, it was clear that lawmakers were far from a deal. Senator Johnson says the bill still calls for spending far too much money — well above the 2019 spending levels that he wants to see. Senator Paul is a “no,” considering there is a $5 trillion increase in the debt limit included in the legislation. Senators Hawley and Murkowski say the Medicaid reforms called for by the House are going too far. Despite these concerns, senators still kept their week short, leaving Washington on Wednesday afternoon. They will return late Monday, along with the House members, to resume normal legislative business. Lawmakers will only be back for four days, however, after which they will head back home for a full week of vacation to celebrate July 4. Senator Thune has said he wants the bill on the president’s desk by America’s 249th birthday, which is just more than two weeks away. “This is an artificial deadline. There is no reason to be trying to rush this,” Mr. Johnson tells the Sun. “If we rush it, we’re not gonna get a good result.”“Let’s just acknowledge that fact and let’s set up a really good work schedule for July, and let’s plow through these things,” the Louisiana conservative says. Dr. Paul’s concerns about federal spending are secondary to his worry that the administration will not take fiscal restraint seriously. In both the House version of the bill and the Senate Finance Committee’s text, the $5 trillion debt limit hike remains in place. That it’s in there, Dr. Paul says, is a sign that they have no intention of curbing America’s spending problem. “I think that conservative across the country are very worried about expanding the credit line [by] $5 trillion. Congress has shown … irresponsibility,” Dr. Paul says. “My proposal is that we would expand the credit line for three months and check and see how they’re behaving.”With only three votes to spare in the 53-seat Senate majority, Mr. Thune has to take every member’s concerns seriously, though the debt limit issue could hand a major win to the Democrats. Secretary Bessent says that America will breach the debt limit by some point in August, which could lead to a global financial crisis the likes of which we have not seen since 2008. Mr. Bessent says the debt limit needs to be raised by the end of July because Congress leaves town for its six-week recess at the end of that month. Should Republicans not fall in line within the next five or six weeks, President Trump will be forced to cut a deal with Senator Schumer. The $5 trillion debt limit hike in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act can be passed by a simple majority in the Senate because it would be done through the process of budget reconciliation. If the big beautiful bill can’t pass by the “X-date” of the debt limit breach, then Democrats will have all the leverage in a Senate negotiation. Outside of reconciliation, a bill needs 60 votes to pass.

Senate Republicans Leave Town With Little Progress Made on the One Big Beautiful Bill

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