Trump Open to ‘Significant' Senate Changes on House Reconciliation Package
President Donald Trump said he is open to the Senate making 'fairly significant' changes to the reconciliation package that narrowly passed the House, which may complicate Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) effort to preserve what he called a 'very delicate' compromise.
'I want the Senate and the senators to make the changes they want, and we'll go back to the House and we'll see if we can get them,' Trump
'I think they are going to have changes,' Trump added. 'Some will be minor and some will be fairly significant.'
The House passed the bill on Thursday by a 215–214 vote along party lines. Following the passage, Johnson urged the Senate to avoid major revisions, warning that too many changes could upend the narrow margin needed to get the bill through the lower chamber again.
'We've got to pass it one more time to ratify their changes in the House, and I have a very delicate balance here, a very delicate equilibrium that we've reached over a long period of time, and it's best not to meddle with it too much,' Johnson
Trump's greenlighting of Senate changes may be encouraging to hardline fiscal conservatives who criticized the bill for not going far enough to balance the budget.
Related Stories
5/25/2025
5/24/2025
'This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,' Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas)
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) also voted 'present' in the House floor vote in protest. The congressman took issue with, among other things, the bill's Medicaid overhaul that includes new work requirements that won't take effect until 2029 and more frequent eligibility checks,
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who calls for
'I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit,' the senator
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also said he wouldn't support the bill without addressing its proposed $5 trillion debt ceiling hike.
'I think the cuts currently in the bill are wimpy and anemic, but I still would support the bill, even with wimpy and anemic cuts, if they weren't going to explode the debt,' Paul
'They're going to explode the debt. The House's [debt-limit increase] is $4 trillion. The Senate has actually been talking about exploding the debt by $5 trillion.'
For Trump, the Senate process could be an opportunity to pursue his policy goals left out of the House package.
For one, the House bill did not close what's known as the carried-interest tax loophole, which allows private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund managers to pay a 20 percent long-term capital gains tax rate on the gains they receive from their investments that might otherwise be taxed as ordinary income at rates up to 37 percent.
Changing it could reduce the deficit by
Another exclusion was Trump's proposal to create a new top tax bracket for the nation's highest earners. While the president wants to extend the tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, he has
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) has not set a timeline for the upper chamber to pass its version of the bill, although Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he is
Due to the budget reconciliation process, the bill is not subject to the Senate filibuster and can pass with a simple majority.
With Republicans holding 53 seats, Thune can afford to lose three Republican votes and still pass the bill with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Politico
22 minutes ago
- Politico
Washington reality check hits Sacramento
Presented by KEEPING SCORE: California Democrats are working to hammer out their moving target of a budget while keeping their eye on the storm clouds from Washington. As we reported this morning, Democrats are weighing potential revenue options to offset the state's $12 billion spending gap and are keenly aware that deep cuts in federal health care spending being negotiated in Congress would upend their plans. That tension became clear today as the Congressional Budget Office estimated the House budget plan would increase the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion within a decade — even after booting 7.8 million people off Medicaid nationwide. 'They can't throw enough people off health care to pay for this tax cut,' Senate Budget Chair Scott Wiener told Playbook. If Assembly Budget Chair Jesse Gabriel's caffeine stack of coffee and Coke Zero is any indication, weary state lawmakers still face a fiscal climb as they oscillate between spending negotiations and hitting the Friday deadline to move their bills from one house to the other. 'The more we learn about the details of this awful bill the more concerned we become,' Gabriel said in a statement to Playbook. 'It is an absolute horror show that would have disastrous consequences for our state.' While lawmakers are busy circulating vote cards and feverishly pushing their colleagues to vote for their bills, budget drama is unfolding in the background. Gabriel has spent much of the marathon floor sessions off the green carpet in meetings with budget leaders in both houses that at least once stretched into the evening, necessitating an emergency pizza delivery. California was struggling to afford its health care programs even before the threat of federal cuts intensified. Last month, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed capping Medi-Cal enrollment for the state's undocumented population following a years-long expansion that became far more costly than initially thought. Progressive Democrats are pushing hard for their colleagues to consider corporate tax hikes to help pay for those Medi-Cal benefits. Those involved in the efforts insist lawmakers in both the Senate and the Assembly are taking proposals to make wealthy individuals and corporations pay up seriously. In the Assembly, Democrats have circulated a revenue survey obtained by Playbook. It asks members their opinion on how the body should 'approach potential new revenue/taxes.' Lawmakers could select from three options: Playbook was still awaiting the results at the time of publication, if any friendly parties are interested in sharing them (wink wink, nudge nudge).IT'S WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@ WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY HIGH-SPEED SNAG: President Donald Trump's administration today announced that it's moving to terminate two grants totaling roughly $4 billion that were previously awarded to California's beleaguered high-speed rail project, our Sam Ogozalek reports for POLITICO Pro subscribers. In a letter to Ian Choudri, CEO of the California High-Speed Rail Authority, the Federal Railroad Administration blasted the state, saying the agency 'has no confidence CHSRA will ever deliver an operating high-speed rail system,' wrote Drew Feeley, acting FRA administrator. The grant cancellations would affect a planned portion of the line from Merced to Bakersfield. A spokesperson for the rail authority in a statement said CHSRA disagrees with the federal government's conclusions, calling them 'misguided' and not reflective of the 'substantial progress' made on the project. The spokesperson added that the majority of funding has come from the state, not the FRA, and that Newsom's latest budget proposal would provide enough money over the next 20 years to complete the project's initial operating segment. 'The Authority will fully address and correct the record in our formal response to the FRA's notice,' the statement read. IN OTHER NEWS SOLAR STANDOFF: The Assembly left solar advocates fuming last night when it suspended a procedural waiting period to advance a proposal that would reduce subsidies to legacy rooftop solar customers, our Camille von Kaenel reports for Pro subscribers. The procedural rule in question requires the chamber to wait a 'full calendar day' after any amendments in order to vote on a bill. But lawmakers suspended that rule to approve Assemblymember Lisa Calderon's AB 942, which she had amended Monday to exempt schools and farms. The bill is now in the state Senate. ANTI-RTO CAUCUS: Republican Assemblymember Josh Hoover, Democratic Assemblymember Robert Garcia and 15 other lawmakers signed a letter urging Newsom to delay his mandate that state workers return to the office four days per week, which is set to start on July 1. Hoover and Garcia pushed the governor to delay the executive order until the state auditor can complete a study the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approved after the governor ordered state workers back to the office two days per week last spring. They noted the potential for the mandate to 'exacerbate our budget shortfall and hamper our ability to protect important programs from devastating cuts.' 'Given the significant implications of the return to work order, we believe it is critical to fully understand the impacts of telework on our state budget and workforce prior to making a decision to reduce its use,' the letter said. WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY — The FBI arrested Daniel Park, a 32-year-old from Washington, for charges related to the bombing of a fertility clinic in Palm Springs. (The Associated Press) — Yucca Valley resident Thomas Eugene Streval pleaded not guilty to three felony counts of making threats online to shoot President Donald Trump shortly after the 2024 election. (Los Angeles Times) — The San Jose City Council settled a civil-rights lawsuit on Tuesday with a $620,000 payout to seven people who say they were targeted and injured by police during protests related to the death of George Floyd. (Mercury News) AROUND THE STATE — The San Diego City Council approved an 18 percent fee hike for ambulance rides over the next three years, but they say those increases will mostly be paid by insurance companies. (San Diego Union-Tribune) — The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority ratified a new contract with their workers' union and awaits approval from their board of directors. (Mercury News) — San Francisco budget officials considered and then quietly discarded a plan to charge property owners $100 a year for their driveways. (San Francisco Chronicle) — compiled by Nicole Norman
23 minutes ago
Judge blocks private prison operator from housing ICE detainees at shuttered Kansas center
LEAVENWORTH, Kan. -- A judge on Wednesday barred a major U.S. private prison operator from housing immigrants facing possible deportation in a shuttered Kansas City area detention center unless it can get a permit from frustrated city officials. Leavenworth County Judge John Bryant agreed after a packed hearing to grant the city of Leavenworth's request for a temporary restraining order against CoreCivic, one of the nation's largest private prison operators. CoreCivic had claimed in legal filings that halting the opening of the 1,033-bed facility on the northwest outskirts of the Kansas City area would cost it $4.2 million in revenue each month. City officials said they anticipated the arrival of detainees apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement was imminent under a Trump administration crackdown on illegal immigration. Leavenworth isn't the first city where controversy has surrounded the reopening of a private prison as an ICE detention facility. In Newark, New Jersey, Mayor Ras Baraka sued the state's top federal prosecutor on Tuesday over his recent arrest on a trespassing charge at a federal immigration detention facility in that state, saying the Trump-appointed attorney had pursued the case out of political spite. Scott Peterson, the city manager for Leavenworth, said he didn't know if the case in Kansas marked the first time a municipality had prevailed in court. 'I would point out that maybe the reason we have seen some success here today is this is not about immigration,' Peterson said. 'This is not about private prisons. This is about land use.' In late 2021, CoreCivic stopped housing pretrial detainees for the U.S. Marshals Service in the Leavenworth facility after then-President Joe Biden called on the Justice Department to curb the use of private prisons. In the months leading up to the closure, the American Civil Liberties Union and federal public defenders urged the White House to speed up the closure, citing inmate rights violations there along with stabbings, suicides and even one homicide. But with President Donald Trump pushing for mass deportations under a wide-ranging crackdown on illegal immigration, the facility that CoreCivic now calls the Midwest Regional Reception Center is in demand again. It is located just 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of the Kansas City International Airport. As part of his crackdown, Trump has vowed to sharply increase detention beds nationwide from the budgeted 41,000 beds this year. Tennessee-based CoreCivic initially applied for a special use permit from the city in February but then withdrew that application the next month, arguing in court filings that it didn't need the permit and that the process would take too long. 'It became clear to CoreCivic that there was not a cooperative relationship,' said Taylor Concannon Hausmann, an attorney for the private prison operator, speaking in court. The city sued CoreCivic, the lawsuit claiming that CoreCivic impeded the city police force's ability to investigate sexual assaults and other violent crimes. The lawsuit contended that the permitting process was needed to safeguard itself from future problems. 'Just follow our rules," an attorney for the city, Joe Hatley, said in court. 'Go get a permit.' The first version of the lawsuit, filed in March in federal court, was tossed out in May on technical grounds. But Bryant sided with Hatley in the case refiled the same month in state court, finding that the proper procedures weren't followed. Concannon Hausmann, CoreCivic's attorney, declined to comment as the crowd filtered out of the courtroom Wednesday. Norman Mallicoat held a sign reading, 'CoreCivic Doesn't Run Leavenworth' as he left. 'I see this as basically a large company trying to bully a small city into getting what it wants and not having to follow the rules and ordinances of the city,' Mallicoat said.
Fox News
23 minutes ago
- Fox News
Senate weighs Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' as policy group backs CBO, projects $3 trillion debt increase
President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" is projected to increase the debt by $3 trillion, with interest, or $5 trillion if made permanent, according to estimates. An estimate of the House-passed bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects it would add more than $2.4 trillion to primary deficits before interest over 10 years, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), a nonprofit public policy organization. As of Wednesday, the national debt, which measures what the U.S. owes its creditors, was $36.2 trillion, and the national deficit, which occurs when the federal government's spending exceeds its revenues, was $1 trillion, according to the Treasury Department. The massive spending package being considered by a Republican-controlled Congress aims to address a number of issues, including tax policy, border security and immigration, defense, energy production, the debt limit, and adjustments to SNAP and Medicaid. "Based on CBO's estimate, the House-passed bill includes roughly $5.3 trillion of tax cuts and spending partially offset by $2.9 trillion of revenue increases and spending cuts," a CRFB statement said. "Most significantly, the policies put forward by the Ways & Means Committee would increase deficits by $3.8 trillion, on net, while the policies in the Energy & Commerce title would reduce deficits by $1.1 trillion. With interest, the bill would add nearly $3.0 trillion to the debt through 2034 – or $5.0 trillion if various temporary provisions are made permanent." "OBBBA (One Big Beautiful Bill Act) would add far too much to the debt as written and could lead to far more fiscal damage than reported if temporary provisions are extended as intended," the group said. It noted that the bill would boost near-term inflation, increase interest rates, add unnecessary complexity to the tax code as well as weaken market confidence and slow long-term economic growth. It urged the Senate to make the bill "more responsible." Despite the bill passing in the House, some lawmakers have voiced opposition to the legislation, most notably Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. "We have never raised the debt ceiling without actually meeting that target," Paul told reporters this week. "So you can say it doesn't directly add to the debt, but if you increase the ceiling $5 trillion, you'll meet that. And what it does is it puts it off the back burner. And then we won't discuss it for a year or two." Top Democrats recently said the bill would cause the deaths of an estimated 51,000 Americans due to changes to the federal healthcare system and the broader reconciliation legislation. Also against the bill is Elon Musk, Trump's former head of the Department of Government Efficiency. Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House.
