U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson has one demand of Senate Republicans as they work to pass President Donald Trump’s budget bill: Don’t make any big changes. Johnson said he expects the package from the U.S. House of Representatives sent over to be modified “as little as possible,” citing the bill’s narrow passage in the House on Thursday, May 22.
House Republicans approved what Trump calls the “Big, Beautiful Bill” by just one vote, 215-214. Two Republicans voted against the measure, and the bill failed to gain the support of a single Democrat.
Hurdles in the Senate
Some Senate Republicans have raised concerns about changes to Medicaid. Under the current version of the bill, at least 8.4 million Americans are projected to lose health insurance coverage as a result of those changes.
Sen. Majority Leader John Thune, R-SD, also said he’d like to see some tax cuts in the bill be made permanent instead of expiring in a few years. Others, however, did not wish to extend the tax cuts at all.
The biggest hurdle the bill faces is opposition from so-called “deficit hawks,” like Rand Paul of Kentucky. Paul warns that the bill as written will increase the national debt significantly. Economists estimate it will add between $3.3 trillion to $3.8 trillion to the U.S. deficit over the next 10 years.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisc. told CNN on Sunday, May 25: “The first goal of our budget reconciliation process should be to reduce the deficit. I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about spending reduction and reducing the deficit.”
Senators on both sides of the aisle have expressed other concerns about the bill, as well, including a clause that they warn would diminish the power and independence of the judicial branch of government and revoke key powers from courts and judges to hear cases and enforce court orders.
Will the bill pass?
Republicans are using a method known as reconciliation, which only needs a simple majority to pass both chambers and head to the president’s desk. However, any modifications to the U.S. Senate version requires the legislation to go back to the U.S. House.
Speaker Johnson has defended the bill and asked the Senate to only make minor amendments, in the hope he can get the bill to the president’s desk by July 4.
The scenarios that could play out include the Senate voting to pass the bill as is, making modifications to it, or flat out rejecting the bill. If the Senate passes an amended version, both chambers of Congress will have to go to a conference committee to work out differences before it heads to Trump’s desk.
