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There has been a tug-of-war going on between House and Senate Republicans over how to handle the bill to extend Trump’s tax cuts for the rich. Senate Republicans wanted to divide the priorities into multiple bills. Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump won out and forced one bill on the Senate.
The Senate got hold of the House-passed bill and rewrote huge chunks of it.
The biggest change was that Senate Republicans made the Medicaid cuts even more extreme.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) basically quit the Senate over the Medicaid changes, and even though the Senate is likely to pass something today or tomorrow, that doesn’t mean that there is smooth sailing and blue skies ahead.
In fact, the opposite seems to be true.
Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted on X:
NEW — JOHNSON just now “I have prevailed upon my Senate colleagues to please, please, please, put it as close to the house product as possible, I been, very consistent from the very beginning.” JOHNSON is still seeking changes in the senate bill to bring it closer to the House.
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The Senate bill is on the floor. Senate folks are saying that they aren’t changing the bill appreciably. Johnson is still seeking major changes hours ahead of final passage.
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There is just so much skepticism in the House Republican Conference right now that the chamber can pass the reconciliation bill this week. I’m not saying they won’t. But mods, conservatives, leadership, etc. Everyone thinks this is going to be extraordinarily difficult.
The House bill passed only by a single vote, so if one of the dozen moderates decides to abandon it, the bill sinks. What House Republicans have finally learned is that one person defecting from Trump will be targeted, but a group of defectors gives them strength in numbers.
