6 events in Passaic County with a date

GOP senators balk at Trump tax bill

Some question spending, Medicaid cuts and more

By: Riley Beggin
USA Today

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is hoping to celebrate a major legislative win this summer [2025] by signing into law a massive bill with implications for every American, including extending tax cuts from his first term and following through on a campaign pledge to eliminate tax on tips and overtime.
..... But to do that, Trump will need to convince a handful of vocal members of his won party in the Senate who want major changes to the bill that passed the House on May 22. [2025]
..... The upper chamber will soon begin working on the legislation that would extend income tax cuts, implement changes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, funnel more money toward immigration enforcement and more. their goal is to pass it by July 4. [2025]
..... The Senate isn't likely to take the House's version as is - and some senators are already drawing red lines. All eyes will be on Republican Senators Josh Hawley of Missouri, Susan Collins of Maine, Rick Scott of Florida and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin - among others - who are pushing for changes to the bill's approach to Medicaid, green energy subsidies and overall spending.
..... "The goal of the House effort has been to pass one big, beautiful bill. It's rhetoric, it's false adverting," Johnson said on May 22, [2025] hours after the House bill passed. The goal should have been (to) reduce average annual deficits. We have to focus on spending."
...... Trump has encouraged senators to make changes - which, he said, "may be something I'd agree with" - despite House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, urging senators "not to meddle with it too much" to make it possible to pas it again trough the House.
..... Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, will have to deal with a narrow margin in order to get the bill across the finish line: He can lose only three Republican votes and still get the majority necessary to pass it, presuming no Democrats cross party lines to support the legislative package.

Spending cuts

..... The House bill would add an estimated $3.8trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years, fueled by a permanent extension of the 2017 income tax cuts that Trump singed into law during his first term.
..... The bill also includes temporary tax breaks for tips, overtime, senior and buyers of American-made cars. Benefits include a boosted child tax credit.
..... Some fiscal conservatives in the Senate says that they can't sign off on legislation that would add to the national debt, which is already more than $36 trillion, and that there are enough of them to block the legislation.
..... Scott and Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, have similarly said they want to see deeper spending cuts in the final package, Scott is pushing for the GOP to "completely eliminate" the renewable energy provision of Former President Joe Biden's inflation Reduction Act.
.... Senator Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, has raised concerns hat the package raises the debt ceiling by $4 trillion -a provision that is necessary to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt sometime in August. [2025]

Medicaid

..... The House-passed legislation would make major changes to Medicaid, saving $625 billion form the low-income helaht care program while pushing an estimated 7.6 million Americans off coverage. Among the changes would be a new requirement for able-bodied adults without children to prove that they're working, volunteering or going to school for 80 hours per month, along with more frequent eligibility checks.
..... Multiple senators have raised concerns about the House's cuts to the program. Collins has said the bill's language goes beyond "waste, fraud and abuse," as GOP leadership has suggested.
..... Drawing the ire of Hawley is a requirement in the House bill for people who earn between 100% and 138% of the federal poverty level to pay up to $35 per service. the level is currently a salary of $35,365 to $4,367 annually for a family of four.
..... Senators Jerry Moran, R-Kansas, and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have also said they're worried about the impact of Medicaid cuts on their constituents.

SALT taxes

..... House Republicans form primarily Democratic states like California, New York and New Jersey pushed for an increased cap on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, which allows people to write off a portion of their local taxes from what they owe the federal government. The 2017 tax law capped that deduction at $10,000. the new bill would raise that CPA to $40,000 for people who make less than $500,000 per year.
.... But in the Senate, there are no blue-state Republicans pushing for similar changes.
..... "There's not one Republican in the United States Senate" who cares about the SALT tax issue. Senate Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota, told reporters, adding that getting a majority in the house "does matter ... and want to be cognizant about that."

Green energy

..... The House bill would cut off many renewable energy tax credits for projects beginning 60 days after th bill passes. It would also rescind several other climate change-related provisions of the Inflation R Eduction Act, including a $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles.
..... It would pull back unspent money for several grant and loan programs at the Energy Department and Environmental Protection Agency, delay methane fees for oil and gas companies, repeal additional rules encouraging the adoption of electric vehicles and accelerate permitting for fossil fuel projects.
..... While senators like Scott want to further strip down the act's green energy boosters, another group of senators thinks the changes go too far, Murkowski, Moran and Senators John Curtis, R-Utah, and Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, sent a letter to Thune in early April [2025 warning that rolling back the renewable energy tax credits could create major disruption to American businesses.

..... Contributing: Savanbnah Kuchar, USA Today

HOME