President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while flying aboard Air Force One en route from Calgary, Canada, to Joint Base Andrews, Md., late Monday, June 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
And due to the nature of budget reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to skirt the filibuster, he can’t count on Democrats, who would demand serious changes to the broader legislation, to help get the package across the line.
The changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate, which were a stark departure from the House GOP’s version of the bill, particularly ruffled feathers among Republicans who have warned not to make revisions to the healthcare program that could shut down rural hospitals and boot working Americans from their benefits.
"I want changes," Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said. "I'm still not satisfied with where we are on Medicaid."
'IT'S WRONG': HAWLEY WARNS SENATE GOP NOT TO BOOT AMERICANS FROM MEDICAID IN TRUMP MEGABILL
Dr. Mehmet Oz, the newly sworn-in Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator, speaks during a ceremony in the Oval Office at the White House April 18, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik)
Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., sought to extinguish anger among his colleagues, noting that Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, and Senate leaders were still working on what the final product would look like.
"Everybody's got an opinion, and I think it's gonna be that way right up until we vote," he said.
Fiscal hawks were not pleased with the bill, either.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., has stumped for a return to pre-COVID-19 pandemic era spending, a gouge to federal spending that would be trillions of dollars more than the rough goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts that some Senate Republicans are eying.
He believed there was "no way" that the current parts of the broader reconciliation package could be fixed and stitched together by the Senate GOP’s self-imposed July 4 deadline.
"The problem is it just simply doesn’t meet the moment," he said.
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But Crapo cautioned he and lawmakers were still working out the kinks and that a resolution to his colleagues’ issues could still be found.
"All I can say is that we will work it out," Crapo said. "We have to work that out, not only among our colleagues in the Senate, but with the House and with the White House."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
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