Trump's big tax bill moves ahead to potential changes in the Senate

USA Today

2 days ago

Trump's big tax bill moves ahead to potential changes in the Senate President Trump wants the Senate to slash taxes even more than the House-passed bill - and get the whole thing to his desk for signature by July 4
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WASHINGTON – House Republicans have done their job, narrowly passing President Donald Trump's sweeping tax and policy bill. Next up: the Senate.
When members of Congress return to Washington on June 2 after a weeklong break, the upper chamber will dig into the more than 1,000-page bill that would extend income tax cuts, implement new tax breaks for tipped wages and overtime, overhaul Medicaid and food stamps, and put more money toward Trump's deportation plan.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has urged his Senate counterparts to "make as few modifications to this package as possible," but senators have other plans. At least a dozen senators have indicated they would like to tweak the package before they sign off on it.
More: Who are the GOP senators balking at Trump's tax bill?
Trump ally Elon Musk said he's "disappointed" in the House-passed package, which would increase the deficit and "undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing." Speaking at the White House on May 30, Trump said he hopes the Senate will slash taxes even more than the reductions included in the House-passed bill.
'I'd like to see a bigger cut in taxes,' Trump told reporters. "It's going to be jiggered around a little bit."
Some House Republicans have already faced jeers and heckling at town halls as attendees grilled lawmakers over the tax policy bill. GOP leaders are urging members to "go on offense" on the new bill and tout the party's efforts to keep undocumented people off of benefit programs, cut taxes, and secure the southern border.Here's what to know as the Senate begins work on it's part of the major legislative package.
Will there be public hearings on the Senate bill?
It's still unclear whether the Senate will hold public hearings on the legislation, like the House did on separate portions of the bill.
What is clear is that they'll try to move fast. Republicans want to pass the legislation by July 4, which would give them only four working weeks to approve it in the Senate, negotiate across chambers on any differences, squeeze it again through the House, and get it to Trump's desk.
The real deadline, however, is the end of July. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said the United States will hit the debt ceiling sometime in August. He urged Congress to pass the package before then to avoid a catastrophic financial default. The package includes a $4 trillion increase in the debt ceiling.
Eyes on Ron Johnson, Rick Scott, Mike Lee and Rand Paul
Just as in the House, Senate Republicans have competing demands for changes in the bill.
Some Republican senators, such as Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky have major concerns with the $3.8 trillion the package would add to the debt over the next 10 years.
Others, such as Sens. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, are worried about the potential changes to Medicaid. The bill would cut $625 billion from the low-income health care program while pushing an estimated 7.6 million Americans off coverage, in part by implementing new work requirements for able-bodied adults without children.
And senators such as Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; John Curtis, R-Utah; and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, are worried about the package rolling back renewable energy tax credits implemented under Democrats' Inflation Reduction Act that their states' businesses have benefitted from.
John Thune is on the hot seat
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota will have to deal with a narrow margin in order to get the bill across the finish line: He can lose only three Republican votes and still get the majority necessary to pass it presuming no Democrats cross party lines to support the legislative package.
Democrats have slammed the package as a giveaway to the wealthiest Americans while stripping benefits from low-income people.
"When rural hospitals close because of this bill, when drug treatment clinics close in Iowa and rural America because of this bill, more people will die at a younger age," Sen. Chris Murphy told CNN in a June 1 interview.
Any changes made in the Senate will have to be negotiated again alongside the House before going back through the lower chamber, where Republicans can afford to lose only three votes and still pass the bill without any Democrats.