Democrats are using Monday’s “vote-a-rama” to highlight cuts they say President Trump’s megabill will make to Medicaid, SNAP and rural hospitals — and to hammer in the tax cuts they say this bill gives to the wealthiest Americans. So far, Republicans have defeated all Democratic efforts to modify or reconsider the bill.
The Senate voted down 47-53 an amendment led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he said would have undone “the travesty that is at the core of the Republican bill.”
“Their bill — the so-called big beautiful bill, which is really a big, ugly betrayal — cuts taxes for billionaires by taking away health care for millions of people. So what my amendment simply says — if people’s health care costs go up, the billionaire tax cuts vanish,” Schumer said.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer arrives as Republicans begin a final push to advance President Donald Trump’s tax breaks and spending cuts package, at the Capitol in Washington, June 30, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, a Republican, argued against Schumer’s amendment, saying he incorrectly framed what the bill does.
“The reality is, the reforms we are putting into place are to try to reign in control of wasteful and fraudulent and abusive spending that actually diverts resources away from the people who these programs really deserve to receive,” Crapo said.
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey’s effort to strip provisions that he said would negatively impact rural hospitals due to cuts to Medicaid also failed, but did receive the support of two Republicans: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.
Sen. Ed Markey speaks on the floor of the Senate, June 30, 2025, in Washington.
Senate TV
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture committee, argued that the SNAP provisions in the bill create “chaos for state budgets and hardship for families” and violate budget rules. Her motion was waived by Republicans.
“The largest unfunded mandate is on the back of kids and veterans and seniors and people with disabilities,” Klobuchar said. “It’s hurting local grocery stores, it’s hurting our farmers and it’s all done to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy. I say to our colleagues: vote for families over billionaires.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
