War Between House and Senate Republicans Moves to the Fore

The war between House and Senate Republicans is breaking out into the open as Senator Thune pushes his chamber to get its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act done by the end of this week. Every time Mr. Thune seems to be getting closer to a deal with his Senate colleagues, House GOP lawmakers pop up to say that they won’t take what the Senate is offering. Senate Republicans have been meeting behind closed doors all week to try to hammer out key provisions of the bill. Senators Scott of Florida and Johnson of Wisconsin want major changes to Medicaid funding, which House and Senate moderates oppose. Senator Paul wants the debt limit increase stripped from the bill, which seems more unlikely by the day. Senators Curtis and Murkowski want to keep some green energy tax credits, while House Freedom Caucus members say they need to be axed immediately. In recent days, as Congress nears its self-imposed deadline to get the bill on President Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July, the knives have started to come out. One key sticking point is the State and Local Tax dedication cap. Blue state House Republicans negotiated a new SALT cap at $40,000 for those who make less than half-a-million dollars annually, though Senate Republicans don’t think the deduction should exist at all. Senator Mullin — a former House member with plenty of friends in the lower chamber — is now the point-man for finding a new landing spot for the SALT cap. One New York Republican, Congressman Nick LaLota, tells the Sun that talks with Mr. Mullin aren’t going well. “Seems like we’re somewhere between stalled and dead,” Mr. LaLota said Tuesday. He tells the Sun he spoke with Mr. Mullin earlier that morning, though he is firmly in the camp that believes the Senate just needs to take the House-passed version of the SALT deal, or he and other New Yorkers will walk. As Mr. Mullin looks for a balance, other Senate Republicans are growing frustrated with Mr. LaLota and his colleagues. “I’d like it to be zero,” Senator Cramer said of the SALT cap on Tuesday, noting that there are no Senate Republicans from high-tax states like New York or New Jersey. “I don’t even know what the solution’s going to be. We don’t know it yet.”Members of the Freedom Caucus — many of whom backed the big beautiful bill last month in the hopes that the Senate could make constructive, conservative changes — say they can’t vote for it as it is currently written. The chairman of the hardline caucus, Congressman Andy Harris, says he is a “no.” Congressmen Chip Roy and Eric Burlison have also been noncommittal as the Senate works its process. Congressman Thomas Massie, who voted against the bill last month, is also still a “no.” Medicaid provisions are also bedeviling Senate Republicans, with conservatives demanding that states take on more of the cost, and some lawmakers from more rural states raising alarms that small hospitals could close. Ms. Murkowski and Senators Collins, Hawley, and Moran have all said that changes in state reimbursement rates are not acceptable to them. According to Punchbowl News, Senator Tillis has said the same. One idea being kicked around is a kind of trust fund specifically for rural hospitals, which would be a way to win over votes from lawmakers like Mr. Hawley. He says, however, that no specifics have been given to him. “They said they’re working on ideas,” Mr. Hawley told reporters. “But you know, they need to go and make sure rural hospitals will accept that and that they’ll stay funded.” He says it would have to be a “pretty big” dollar figure for any kind of fund, meaning upward of $100 billion.

War Between House and Senate Republicans Moves to the Fore

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