Several key provisions in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ must be reworked or dropped, Senate parliamentarian says
The New York Times has more on that, reporting that Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, has rejected a slew of major provisions in the “big, beautiful bill”, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline.
Per the Times’s report:
MacDonough said several of the measures in the legislation that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in savings could not be included in the legislation in their current form. They include one that would crack down on strategies that many states have developed to obtain more federal Medicaid funds and another that would limit repayment options for student loan borrowers.
MacDonough has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill. The tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump’s agenda are still under review.
The decisions dealt a blow to Senate Republicans as they attempt to pass the behemoth legislation by Trump’s deadline. Party leaders had hoped to begin voting on the bill this weekend, in order to allow time for the House, which must give final approval to any changes, to pass it early next week, clearing it for the president’s signature.
They were the latest provisions struck down by MacDonough, after she rejected several other sections, including Republicans’ initial plan to slash the food assistance program known as SNAP, an effort to sell federal land, and a move to limit federal judges’ power to enforce injunctions against the Trump administration.
MacDonough’s rulings are closely held by senators and are not released to the public. So it was unclear whether she had suggested the provisions were essentially unsalvageable, or merely needed to be modified.
Republicans on the Senate agriculture committee, for example, believe they will be able to restore the provision that MacDonough struck that would push some SNAP costs to the states.
One of the key provisions MacDonough ruled against, a measure that would try to close the so-called “provider tax loophole,” has already divided Senate Republicans. Senators from several states that heavily rely on a tax manoeuvre to finance their Medicaid programs have said they will not vote for the legislation until it is modified, citing risks to rural hospitals. (All states but one use this loophole to some degree.)
Senate majority leader John Thune played down the adverse rulings, saying the measure was still on track. “These are speed bumps along the way; we anticipated those and so we have contingency plans,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “Obviously, you have to adjust the timing and schedule a little bit, but we’re moving forward.”
Republican senators could vote to steer around MacDonough’s guidance, but that move would deal a substantial blow to the filibuster. The vote would set a new precedent that senators can ignore the parliamentarian on budget matters whenever they can muster a majority to do so, and Thune has repeatedly pledged not to take such action.
Key events
US announces new fentanyl-related visa restriction policy
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has announced a new visa restriction policy aimed at stopping the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into the United States.
“Imposing visa restrictions on drug traffickers, their family members, and close personal and business associates will not only prevent them from entering the United States, but it will serve as a deterrent for continued illicit activities,” Rubio said in a statement issued by the state department.
GOP senator calls for parliamentarian to be fired after ruling against Medicaid cuts as Thune says Senate won’t overrule her
Some Republicans are furious about MacDonough’s rulings and have publicly expressed their rage on social media and – and one senator has even called for her to go.
Representative Greg Steube of Florida wrote on social media:
The Senate Parliamentarian is not elected. She is not accountable to the American people. Yet she holds veto power over legislation supported by millions of voters.
Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama also called MacDonough a “WOKE parliamentarian” for rejecting a provision that would reduce Medicaid funding to states that use their own tax revenues to provide health coverage to undocumented immigrants – and called for her to be removed from the job.
This is a perfect example of why Americans hate THE SWAMP. Unelected bureaucrats think they know better than U.S. Congressmen who are elected BY THE PEOPLE. Her job is not to push a woke agenda. THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN SHOULD BE FIRED ASAP.
Around the same time, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters he would not attempt to overrule the parliamentarian with a simple-majority vote on the floor.
Per The Hill, Thune told reporters he didn’t view MacDonough’s ruling against the biggest spending cut in the bill as necessarily fatal to getting the legislation passed.
We were obviously trying to get as much in terms of savings as we could. We pushed hard to try and achieve that, and we knew that it was going to be an interesting conversation and we didn’t know for sure how she was going to come down on it.
There are things we can do. There are other ways of getting to that same outcome. We may not have everything that we wanted in terms of the provider tax reforms, but if we can get most of the reforms there, get the savings that come with it — this is all about saving the taxpayers money.
Several key provisions in Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ must be reworked or dropped, Senate parliamentarian says
The New York Times has more on that, reporting that Elizabeth MacDonough, the parliamentarian who enforces the Senate’s rules, has rejected a slew of major provisions in the “big, beautiful bill”, sending GOP leaders into a frenzy to try to salvage the legislation before next week’s 4 July deadline.
Per the Times’s report:
MacDonough said several of the measures in the legislation that would provide hundreds of billions of dollars in savings could not be included in the legislation in their current form. They include one that would crack down on strategies that many states have developed to obtain more federal Medicaid funds and another that would limit repayment options for student loan borrowers.
MacDonough has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill. The tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump’s agenda are still under review.
The decisions dealt a blow to Senate Republicans as they attempt to pass the behemoth legislation by Trump’s deadline. Party leaders had hoped to begin voting on the bill this weekend, in order to allow time for the House, which must give final approval to any changes, to pass it early next week, clearing it for the president’s signature.
They were the latest provisions struck down by MacDonough, after she rejected several other sections, including Republicans’ initial plan to slash the food assistance program known as SNAP, an effort to sell federal land, and a move to limit federal judges’ power to enforce injunctions against the Trump administration.
MacDonough’s rulings are closely held by senators and are not released to the public. So it was unclear whether she had suggested the provisions were essentially unsalvageable, or merely needed to be modified.
Republicans on the Senate agriculture committee, for example, believe they will be able to restore the provision that MacDonough struck that would push some SNAP costs to the states.
One of the key provisions MacDonough ruled against, a measure that would try to close the so-called “provider tax loophole,” has already divided Senate Republicans. Senators from several states that heavily rely on a tax manoeuvre to finance their Medicaid programs have said they will not vote for the legislation until it is modified, citing risks to rural hospitals. (All states but one use this loophole to some degree.)
Senate majority leader John Thune played down the adverse rulings, saying the measure was still on track. “These are speed bumps along the way; we anticipated those and so we have contingency plans,” he told reporters at the Capitol. “Obviously, you have to adjust the timing and schedule a little bit, but we’re moving forward.”
Republican senators could vote to steer around MacDonough’s guidance, but that move would deal a substantial blow to the filibuster. The vote would set a new precedent that senators can ignore the parliamentarian on budget matters whenever they can muster a majority to do so, and Thune has repeatedly pledged not to take such action.
Senate Republicans race to resolve tax and health issues in Trump’s tax bill to meet 4 July deadline
Republicans in Congress are scrambling to resolve nettlesome tax and health care provisions in their sweeping tax-cut and spending bill as Donald Trump presses them to pass the legislation by his 4 July deadline (which is … next week).
Trump plans to promote the package – which nonpartisan analysts say will add about $3tn to the federal government’s $36.2tn in debt – at an afternoon White House event that will feature truck drivers, firefighters, ranchers and other workers who the administration says would benefit from the bill.
But Senate Republicans have yet to produce their version of their legislation ahead of a possible weekend vote, and the overall shape of the bill appeared more uncertain after a nonpartisan referee ruled that several healthcare provisions violated the complex process Republicans are invoking to bypass Democratic opposition.
Those elements collectively represented more than $250bn in health care cuts, according to Democratic senator Ron Wyden of Oregon. Democrats have lined up against the bill, portraying it as a wasteful giveaway to the wealthiest Americans.
Senate Republicans have spent the last several weeks revising a bill that passed the House by one vote last month. It is unclear whether the GOP will be able to rework the bill to comply with the complex budget rules, as they have already done with some elements, or seek to override the decision by the Senate parliamentarian.
Senator Rick Scott, a Florida Republican, told reporters:
It’s pretty frustrating. But you know, what we’ve got to do is work through this process and come up with something that you know, fulfills the Trump agenda and also has fiscal sanity. Look, I believe this bill is going to pass. I know there’s a lot of work left to do.
A source familiar with the situation told Reuters Senate Republicans still had a path forward and described the 4 July deadline as achievable.
Republicans remain at odds over several provisions – notably a proposed tax break for state and local tax payments and a tax on health care providers that some states use to boost the federal government’s contribution to the Medicaid health plan.
The parliamentarian also flagged provisions that would deny student aid and Medicaid health coverage to some immigrants, as well as a provision that would prohibit Medicaid funding for transgender medical care.
Lawmakers a half-century ago decided that the Senate parliamentarian, currently Elizabeth MacDonough, would hold the power to determine what policies they can enact through “budget reconciliation,” the process that Republicans are using now to bypass the chamber’s “filibuster” rule that requires 60 of the 100 members to agree on most legislation.
Republican senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama wrote that she should be fired.
Her job is not to push a woke agenda. Tuberville wrote on social media.
Others, notably Senate majority leader John Thune, have said they will not to overturn her rulings.
Trump ‘very open’ to visit from Netanyahu, White House says
Leavitt says there isn’t yet a date but Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu “has expressed interest” in coming to the White House to meet with Donald Trump, and adds that Trump is “very open” to that.
White House believes no enriched uranium was removed prior to US attacks on Iran
Leavitt repeats defense secretary Pete Hegseth’s earlier claim that there is no indication that any enriched uranium was removed from any of the three nuclear sites in Iran targeted by the US in attacks last Saturday.
There was no indication to the United States that any of that enriched uranium was moved prior to the strike [from any of the sites].
Hegseth earlier said he wasn’t aware of any intelligence to suggest that Iran had moved the uranium, and Trump also said, without evidence, that “nothing was taken out of the facility” ahead of the strikes. The FT reports the opposite today.
Leavitt also repeats the administration’s claim that Iran’s nuclear capabilities were “obliterated” in the US strikes.
White House press briefing
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is briefing reporters at the moment. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.
Semafor reports that since progressive Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the Democratic mayoral primary yesterday, the New York City business community appears to have abandoned its reluctant support for former state governor Andrew Cuomo’s leadership bid and is now feverishly organizing around incumbent Eric Adams in an effort to prevent Mamdani from victory in November’s general election.
“Some of former governor Andrew Cuomo’s biggest backers hinted in fluid, panicked conversations on Wednesday that they’ll put their money behind Adams,” reads Semafor’s report.
“There is going to be overwhelming support in the business community to rally around Adams,” Richard Farley, a partner at Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP who said he’s organizing a fundraiser for the mayor and has been speaking with some of Cuomo’s biggest donors, told the news outlet. “This will be a street fight all the way to November.”
Politico hears the same, reporting that “Mamdani’s status as a democratic socialist and staunch critic of Israel’s war in Gaza has breathed new possibility into an Adams comeback as real estate and business honchos ponder ways to keep the 33-year-old from City Hall”. (Adams notably just had a rabbi speak at his campaign launch).
Both outlets also report that deep-pocketed business executives are also musing about drafting a new independent candidate to back in the race.
Eric Adams launches re-election campaign for New York City mayor as an independent
Embattled New York mayor Eric Adams is about to give an announcement on the steps of City Hall, where a crowd of supporters are gathered, to launch his independent campaign for re-election.
Here’s the clip of defence secretary Pete Hegseth’s attacks on the media this morning over their reporting on early intelligence on the US strikes in Iran.
Hegseth accused the media of “spinning” leaked information in coverage of the assessment – which found that American strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites didn’t do as much damage as has been claimed by the Trump administration – and told journalists about the stories he thinks they should be writing, including “how hard it is to fly a plane for 36 hours”.
The US Justice Department is launching an investigation into the University of California system, accusing the universities of engaging in a “pattern or practice of discrimination based on race and sex.”
According to a DOJ press release, the university system’s plan to hire diverse staff “potentially runs afoul of federal law.” The DOJ accuses the university system of having race and sex-based employment quotas.
This comes as the Trump administration continues to investigate universities nationwide for a number of reasons, including for allegations of anti-semitism.
According to a letter written by Harmeet Dhillon the assistant attorney general for the DOJ’s civil rights division, the University of California may have engaged in Title VII discrimination with the practices.
“I have authorized a full investigation to determine whether the University of California is engaged in a pattern or practice of discrimination,” Dhillon writes in the letter.
Dhillon is a former Republican Party official and was nominated by Trump in December to serve in her current position.
