US President Donald Trump’s US$4.5 trillion tax cut bill prevailed in a crucial US Senate test vote after hours of negotiations between US Vice President J.D. Vance and Republican Party leaders and holdouts.
The 51-49 vote, which was held open for about four hours, is a sign that Republican leaders are resolving the infighting over portions of the legislation and moving toward meeting Friday’s deadline the US president has set for passage.
US Senate Majority Leader John Thune and his lieutenants might still need to tweak portions of Trump’s signature economic legislation to win the 50 votes it needs to pass the Senate.
Photo: Reuters
However, the Senate on Saturday voted to begin debate on the legislation just hours after party leaders unveiled the latest version of the massive tax and spending package.
Two Republicans — Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voted against the motion. A third, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, switched his vote after meeting with Vance and Thune.
Johnson told reporters that Trump and Senate leaders agreed to support an amendment to phase out the 90 percent Medicaid match for the expansion population under the Affordable Care Act.
Johnson said it would hopefully lead to hundreds of billions in additional savings. However, that plan could result in a revolt from moderates in the US House of Representatives and the Senate, given many states now rely on the funding.
Trump had golfed earlier in the day with Paul, a frequent foe. The US president, who had been monitoring the Senate action from the Oval Office, swiftly threatened to find a Republican challenger for Tillis’ seat.
Democrats have now demanded a full reading of the bill text, which could be pushed to a final vote today.
The bill includes about US$4.5 trillion worth of tax cuts, according to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation.
However, Republicans are aiming for only US$693 billion of those tax reductions to count in the official bill cost — assuming they are able to successfully use a budget gimmick that would not count the extension of Trump’s first-term cuts in the price tag.
Despite broad Republican support for the tax cuts and spending increases for immigration enforcement and defense at the core of the package, party leaders have struggled to balance competing demands from the Republican Party’s discordant ideological factions.
Conservatives are demanding larger spending cuts to offset the tax cuts. Moderates are worried about the scale of proposed cuts to safety-net programs such as Medicaid and food stamps. Some senators from states with significant renewable energy industries are trying to soften the rapid phase-out of green energy tax credits.
Thune and other party leaders have also been trying to resolve lesser skirmishes, such as one on a provision to block states from regulating artificial intelligence.
A new draft of the bill unveiled early Saturday morning attempted to win over moderates on the Medicaid issue and conservatives on renewable energy.
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