The Senate began voting on amendments to President Donald Trump's massive tax cut and spending bill with the goal of passing it this evening or early tomorrow morning, even with the support of several key Republicans up in the air.
The 940-page legislation, which the Senate advanced on a 51-49 vote late Saturday, was still taking shape even as the "vote-a-rama" began — a process in which senators can offer an unlimited number of amendments — with GOP leaders hoping to use it to satisfy concerns from wavering factions.
The math: Republicans need to hold 50 of their 53 senators to pass the bill. They have lost Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, who complained that it adds too much to the national debt, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who blasted the Medicaid cuts as damaging to his home state. (More on Tillis below.)
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted to advance the bill on Saturday but told NBC News she was still leaning against it on final passage. She expressed worries about the Medicaid cuts and said she prefers raising taxes on high earners, calling those “two of the most important things” she wants addressed.
And Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who also voted to keep the process moving over the weekend after discussions with Republican leaders, has voiced Medicaid concerns.
In addition, a group of conservatives — Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.; Rick Scott, R-Fla.; and Mike Lee, R-Utah — are insisting on revising the bill to reduce the deficit impact.
The cost: The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the Senate bill would increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years — it found that revenues would fall by about $4.5 trillion and spending would be cut by $1.2 trillion. The bill is also projected to lead to 11.8 million people losing their health insurance by 2034 if it becomes law, the CBO said.
The GOP is using a budget trick known as "current policy baseline" to hide the cost of extending the tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017, effectively lowering the sticker price by $3.8 trillion. That tactic has not been used in the budget process before and would set a precedent to weaken the Senate's 60-vote rule. The Senate voted 53-47 to green-light the new baseline with all Republicans voting in favor.
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