Collins, Murkowski vote for motion to help strike defunding of Planned Parenthood from GOP megabill
Republican Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted Monday afternoon for a motion to waive a budget point of order against an amendment that would strike a section of the GOP megabill to bar Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving Medicaid funding for services provided to low-income women across the country.
Collins and Murkowski were the only two Republicans to vote for the motion, which was sponsored by Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Democrats warned that cutting off Medicaid funding would put 200 health centers across the country at risk of closing.
Murray hoped to offer an amendment to strip the Planned Parenthood-related provision from the bill but she first needed to overcome a procedural objection to the bill.
Republicans blocked her motion in a 51-49 vote. She needed 60 votes to overcome the objection.
'It will take another step towards enacting Republicans' plan for a Backdoor Nationwide Abortion Ban. How does it do this? By defunding Planned Parenthood,' Murray said.
'This is a long-sought goal of anti-choice extremists—no surprise, it is overwhelmingly unpopular with the American people,' she added.
Senate Republicans added the provision, Section 7115, back into the bill after the Senate parliamentarian initially ruled it violated the Senate's Byrd Rule, which determines what legislation is eligible to pass with a simple-majority vote under budget reconciliation.
Republicans changed the timing of the 'defunding' from 10 years to one year to meet the parliamentarian's requirements.
Nathan Weixel contributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
28 minutes ago
- CNN
‘Musk is right about this': Elizabeth Warren shocked to find agreement with Musk over megabill
CNN's Kaitlan Collins talks with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) about finding surprising common cause with Elon Musk over their shared objections to President Trump's megabill.
The Hill
32 minutes ago
- The Hill
Rep. Greg Steube says passing Trump megabill in the House will likely ‘be a challenge'
Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) said on Monday passing President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' in the House will likely 'be a challenge.' 'I do think you're gonna have some challenges on the House side. We can only lose three votes,' Steube told NewsNation's Blake Burman on 'The Hill.' 'You've got 218 you got to get to, we can only lose three, if we lose four the bill's dead, and you've got things in here that moderates don't like, and you've got things in here that conservatives don't like. So, it is certainly going to be a challenge.' House moderate Republicans and hard-line conservatives have recently expressed rising opposition to the Senate's version of the 'big, beautiful bill' only days before the lower chamber is set to consider the legislation. Democrats have already expressed their own vehement distaste for the bill, with members like Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) calling it a 'big bad betrayal bill' and Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) saying it is an 'evil bill.' 'If Republicans pass this big bad betrayal bill, they are quite literally ensuring that more poor Americans will DIE so that billionaires and giant corporations can get a tax cut,' Jayapal said in a post on the social platform X Monday. Former close Trump ally Elon Musk said Monday he would support primary challengers to any Republicans who backed Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' 'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!' Musk said on X.
Yahoo
40 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Democrats fail to overturn ruling that tax cuts in GOP megabill don't add to deficit
The Senate voted along party lines Monday that making the expiring 2017 tax cuts permanent as part of President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' could be scored as deficit neutral and therefore comply with the Byrd Rule, allowing the bill to pass with a simple-majority vote. Democrats failed to defeat the ruling by the Senate chair, which Republicans control, that the chamber's 940-page One Big, Beautiful Bill Act does not violate the 1974 Congressional Budget Act by using a controversial 'current policy' baseline to score the extension of President Trump's expiring tax cuts as not adding to the deficit. If the tax portion of the bill were scored on a 'current law' baseline, which assumes the 2017 Trump tax cuts would expire at the end of 2025, then it would add an estimated $3.5 trillion to federal deficits between 2025-34 and would add to deficits after 2034 — beyond the 10-year budget window allowed by the Byrd Rule. Scored this way, the Republican bill would fail the rule, which governs what legislation is eligible to pass the Senate with a simple-majority vote on the reconciliation fast track, and Republicans would be forced to rewrite large parts of the measure. But when scored with a 'current policy' baseline, the Congressional Budget Office projects the tax cuts in the Finance Committee's section of the bill would increase deficits by not more than $1.5 trillion between 2025-34 and would not increase on-budget deficits after 2034. Democrats argued a current policy baseline had never been used before in a budget reconciliation bill, and had never been used to score an extension of expiring tax cuts as not adding to future deficits, and therefore was not in compliance with the Senate's Byrd Rule. And Democrats highlighted over the weekend that most of the Republican reconciliation package uses a 'current law' baseline to project the cost of the legislation. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (N.Y.) accused Republicans of 'deploying fake math and budgetary hocus-pocus to make it seem like their billionaire giveaways don't cost anything.' Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) accused Republicans of 'going nuclear' to blow up the Senate rules so they can make Trump's 2017 tax cuts permanent. 'This is the nuclear option. It's just hidden behind a whole lot of Washington, D.C., lingo,' Wyden said on the floor. Wyden pointed out through a parliamentary inquiry that the Finance portion of the bill used two different baselines, current policy and current law. Senate Democrats had tried to schedule a meeting with Republican Budget Committee staff and with the parliamentarian to discuss whether using a current policy baseline violated Senate precedent and the Byrd Rule, but Republicans 'flat-out refused' to participate in such a meeting, according to a person familiar with the conversations. Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday morning that Republicans are not overruling the parliamentarian and asserted the parliamentarian has said it is up to him as Budget chair to set the baseline. And he argued Democrats in the past have supported the use of a current policy baseline to project the cost of legislation, although it hasn't been done before for a budget reconciliation package. He noted former Democratic Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (N.D.) used a current policy baseline for a past farm bill. Republicans also point out former President Obama's budget office supported using a current policy baseline to score the extension of the expiring tax cuts from the George W. Bush era at the end of 2012. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on the floor Monday that former Obama Director of the Office of Management and Budget Jeff Zients supported using the current policy baseline for the 2012 fiscal cliff deal. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
