Senate Republicans are deeply divided over President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which the House passed by a single vote last week, setting up a battle in the upper chamber between moderates and conservatives that is likely to drag on well into July.
GOP senators are vowing to rewrite the bill, but they’re still weeks away from putting together a package that can muster the 51 votes it needs to pass, according to GOP senators and aides.
Centrist GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) are facing off against conservatives such as Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Mike Lee (Utah) over potential cuts to Medicaid, the phaseout of renewable energy incentives and other deficit-reduction measures that conservatives say don’t go far enough.
The Medicaid cuts also divide conservatives, with Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) warning they could be bad policy and politically suicidal.
It has all left observers skeptical the debate in the Senate will end in June.
— Alexander Bolton has more here.
