Senators offered dozens of amendments Monday to President Donald Trump's megabill, pursuing a play of tense negotiations connected Capitol Hill to effort to get the president's second-term home priorities done the precocious chamber.
The process, called a "vote-a-rama," began soon aft 9 a.m. ET, and it was not yet wide however agelong it could spell on. Eight hours oregon much is not unusual.
At the White House, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump had met with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune determination connected Monday.
But spokespeople for both GOP leaders refuted that account, and said neither antheral had visited the White House.
"Teams are evidently successful adjacent contact/coordination, arsenic always, but we're continuing to determination done vote-a-rama successful the Senate," a spokesperson for Thune wrote connected societal media.
The White House did not instantly respond to CNBC's petition for remark connected the discrepancy.
"We request the afloat value of the Republican league to get down this measure and we expect them to, and we are assured that they will," Leavitt said astatine a briefing for reporters.
While votes connected amendments fell mostly on enactment lines, immoderate Democratic-led amendments did garner Republican support.
Sen. Ed Markey, Mass., for instance, introduced an alteration to the measure that sought to region immoderate connection that would "force agrarian hospitals to bounds their services oregon really adjacent their doors" owed to cuts to Medicaid oregon Medicare, Markey said connected the Senate floor.
Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, crossed the aisle and voted with Democrats successful favour of the amendment. Even so, that lone added up to 49 yay votes, versus 51 nays from the remainder of the GOP conference, meaning the amendment failed.
Senators are allowed to present unlimited amendments to the budget bill, forcing the enclosure to formed back-to-back votes.
Lots of Democrats and adjacent immoderate Senate Republicans, Collins included, had signaled up of the vote-a-rama that they intended to record respective amendments.
The bulk of the amendments won't triumph the indispensable 50 votes to get into the bill. But that's not ever the point. For galore of the amendments, the intent is to nonstop a governmental message, oregon to item assorted senators' absorption to, oregon enactment for, antithetic pieces of the monolithic package.
For example, Democrats volition effort to unit Republicans to formed votes successful favour of immoderate of the much arguable parts of the bill, similar Medicaid enactment requirements and the extremity of taxation credits for electrical vehicles.
Not lone bash these votes marque idiosyncratic Republicans squirm, but aboriginal connected they tin beryllium utilized to marque onslaught ads erstwhile that legislator is up for reelection.
Republicans, meanwhile, are utilizing the amendment process successful portion to log their idiosyncratic absorption to circumstantial parts of the bill, adjacent though they yet program to ballot successful favour of its passage.
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Lawmakers worked done the play to effort to get Trump's measure crossed the decorativeness enactment arsenic Republicans' self-imposed July 4 deadline looms.
Republicans eked retired a cardinal procedural triumph precocious Saturday, with conscionable 2 GOP senators — Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky — voting against a question to beforehand the bill.
Thune is presiding implicit an highly constrictive majority, truthful helium tin lone spend to suffer 1 much ballot successful the last ballot — successful summation to Tillis and Paul — and inactive walk the package.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., an outspoken professional of the bill, signaled Monday that helium is not committed to backing the package, successful a motion of imaginable occupation for Thune.
Johnson yet voted to beforehand the measure during the Saturday procedurally vote, but that was lone aft helium switched his ballot astatine the 11th hour.
Even if Thune is capable to get the measure done his chamber, it faces an uncertain way successful the House, wherever lawmakers indispensable o.k. the revisions made by the precocious chamber.
Some House Republicans person already signaled objections to changes successful the Senate mentation of the "big, beauteous bill."
House Republican leadership, for its part, has told its members to hole for votes connected the bundle Tuesday oregon Wednesday, Politico reports.
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