Washington — The Senate plans to hold a key test vote on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” later Saturday, even as it’s unclear whether the tax and spending measure has enough support to lift it over the hurdle.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said Friday he wasn’t certain he had the votes to advance the bill, as the upper chamber awaited decisions on whether a number of provisions complied with the Senate’s reconciliation rules, which allow Republicans to pass the bill with a simple majority. Major policy disputes also remained.
Senate Republicans did not release an updated version of their bill until late Friday night, giving senators little time to digest it before taking an initial procedural vote that’s necessary to move toward final passage.
Mr. Trump has pressured Congress to send him the sprawling package — which includes tax cuts and funding for his immigration and defense priorities — by the Fourth of July holiday.
In a statement, obtained by CBS News on Saturday, the White House said that a failure to pass the bill would be the “ultimate betrayal.”
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects the shared priorities of both the Congress and the Administration. Therefore, the Congress should immediately pass this bill and send it to the President’s desk by July 4, 2025, to show the American people that they are serious about ‘promises made, promises kept,'” the statement said. “President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.”
In the bill, Republicans proposed slashing funding for Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income individuals and people with disabilities, and food assistance benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — or food stamps — to help pay for those priorities.
Over the last week, the Senate parliamentarian determined that some of the most controversial provisions in the package violated a rule that governs the reconciliation process, which requires that the legislation only include provisions that have a direct impact on federal spending. The rulings directed Republicans to either drop those sections from the package or rewrite them.
Meanwhile, in the leadup to the vote, disputes over Medicaid spending cuts, the state and local tax deduction and a planned debt ceiling increase still lingered among Republicans.
But in a potentially promising sign for Senate leadership, at least two Republican senators who expressed opposition to provisions in the bill said they would vote for it.
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she would not vote against the measure advancing, but noted that did not indicate her vote on final passage.
“If the bill is not further changed, I would be leaning against the bill,” Collins said Saturday afternoon.
Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who has criticized the bill’s Medicaid cuts, said he will be a “yes” vote on final passage because his state will be receiving more funding for the program.
“With the delay in the provider tax framework that we were able to get and with the changes to the rural hospital fund, Missouri’s Medicaid dollars will actually increase over the next four years. So we will get more money — Medicaid funding — over baseline until 2030. Any changes to our provider framework in Missouri will not take place until the next decade,” Hawley said Saturday.
“I want to be clear, I’m going to spend the next however long trying to make sure that the cuts that we have successfully delayed never take place,” Hawley said. “I think that this effort to cut Medicaid funding is a mistake. We’ve been able for Missouri to delay it. As I said, we’re actually going to get more money in the next four years. But that’s not true of all the states.”
House Republicans narrowly passed a version of the bill in May. and the lower chamber is expected to be called back to Washington to vote on the Senate version if it survives the upper chamber in the coming days. But House Republicans have warned that any major changes made by the Senate put its ability to make it through the House again at risk.
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