Senate Republicans are barreling toward a critical vote on President Donald Trump’s agenda on Saturday, with GOP leaders pressuring their members to support a bill that has yet to be fully drafted.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his leadership team informed their members at a private meeting Friday that they aimed to hold their first vote to advance the bill Saturday at noon, according to multiple GOP senators.
“We got a few things we’re waiting on, outcomes from the parliamentarian … but if we could get some of those questions, issues landed then my expectation is at some point tomorrow we’ll be ready to go,” Thune said.
But it is not yet clear if enough Senate Republicans will support the plan to pass it.
“We will find out tomorrow,” Thune said.
Thune and his team are still working to resolve some of the thorniest issues, including how to win over centrists who are concerned about cuts to Medicaid or other safety net programs while appeasing fiscal hawks who have demanded their party go even further with those cuts.
Thune himself acknowledged that holding a vote midday Saturday was “aspirational” and added: “We’ll see.”
The South Dakota Republican outlined the tentative plan during a Friday meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson and the treasury secretary, part of a full-court press by GOP leaders and Trump’s team to line up the GOP behind the bill. GOP leaders know that a lot needs to fall in place for that Saturday vote: Their party is still rewriting key parts of the bill to comply with the chamber’s special budget rules and has yet to release final text.
If all goes to plan, though, the Senate would vote on final passage sometime in the middle of the night Saturday or Sunday morning. And if successful, the House would return mid-week to take up the bill with the hope of Trump signing it at the White House on July 4.
At least one GOP senator is still publicly chafing at that plan: Kentucky’s Rand Paul, who was sharply critical of the new spending in the bill as he emerged from the GOP meeting.
“The car is still speeding off the cliff,” Paul said, saying it would do nothing to rein in deficits.
Senior Republicans have been anticipating that on the vote they may lose Paul, who strongly opposed parts of the bill, including raising the nation’s debt limit. But if that happens, Thune can only lose two more GOP votes and still pass the bill.
One other key vote, centrist Alaska GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, told reporters Friday she’s still waiting to see details of GOP’s plans on nutritional assistance programs, known as SNAP. She would not say if she is leaning for or against the bill.
One of the biggest hurdles for Republicans is the race to rewrite text in compliance with the Senate’s complex budget rules, which are governed by the nonpartisan parliamentarian. In recent days, the parliamentarian has ruled against key GOP provisions — from the so-called provider tax, which helps states fund their Medicaid programs to some provisions of a government spectrum auction. That forces the Senate GOP to dial back those provisions, or else Trump’s bill would be subject to a Democratic filibuster.
Senate GOP leaders are aiming to release a mostly final version of the bill Friday night, but the full version may not be ready before the Saturday vote, since the Senate Finance Committee is still furiously working to make sure its language complies with the budget rules.
“The vast majorities of issues have been resolved and some of this will be done in parallel working here for the sake of time. But I think we’re going to get there,” Sen. Steve Daines of Montana said, adding that the Senate has gotten through “90 to 95%” of the parliamentarian’s process, also known as a “Byrd bath,” named for the late Sen. Robert Byrd, a Senate rules enthusiast.
Multiple GOP senators dismissed concerns about speeding ahead with the vote without final text in hand.
“We discussed this thing ad nauseam,” Ohio Sen. Bernie Moreno said, estimating that Republicans have met on this bill for “thousands” of hours so far this year. “The final tax is not out. But we know where we are going.”
Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri added: “When you have legislation like this, you’re going to have things you need to work through until the very end.”
CNN’s Nicky Robertson and David Wright contributed to this report.
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