Trump tax package faces speed bumps
Fiscal conservatives take issue with spending
By: Riley Beggin
USA today
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is lobbying potential Senate holdouts in an effort to push through his sweeping tax plan. Repulbicans who fear the package's impact on the deficit and health care and a blistering rebuke from former Department of Government Efficiency leader Elon Musk.
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The Republican president's second term legislative agenda is on the line as the upper chamber is gearing up for a four-week sprint, during which it will seek to iron out concerns within the GOP conference and pass something that can also get through the House's narrow margins and onto the president's desk for signature into law.
..... As in the House, the Senate has fiscal conservatives who are concerned that the bill will add to the federal deficit and moderate who have problems with the potential impact on Medicaid health coverage.
..... Appeasing one camp will be hard without inflaming the frustration of the other, forcing Republican leaders to strike a delicate balance to get the votes they need, as no democrats are expected to support the proposal.
..... Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on June 3 [2025] that Republicans will "make some modifications to it strengthen and improve it."
..... But "at the end of the day, the math is very simple: It's 51 in the Senate and 218 in the House," Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota told reporters on June 3, [2025] referencing the majority needed in both the House and Senate. "So as we work through that process, we're going to ahve our eye on that prize."
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Several senators ahve said they're worried aobut the massive price tag of the legislaiton, which would extned Trump's 2017 tax cut, and implement several new ones, inlcuding major campaign promises such as no tax on tips or overtime.
..... The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office ahs estimated that the bill would add more than $3 trilllion OT the federal debt over the next 10 years, adding to the country's already massive $36.2 trillion debt.
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The package increases the debt ceiling by 44 trillion - another sticking point for some Republican senators.
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Senator Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, ahs drawn a red line over the boosted spending, saying he won't vote for the package unless it goes farther to cut spending and only raises the debt ceiling enough to avoid a default for a year.
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Trump met with Scott and spoke on the phone with Johnson and Paul. Paul said the president didn't change his mine on the bill, and that the two :disagreed" on his stance on the debt ceiling. Trump lashed out at him on social media the following day. Johnson said his conversations with Trump was "cordial," but said he;s still encouraging the White House to shift on his demands.
Musk fans the flames
..... While the fire of fiscal conservatives' concerns grows, Musk may have poured gasoline on it.
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Trump's billionaire former adviser, who led DOGE, posted on X that the bill is "outrageous" and a "disgusting abomination," flowed shortly by a threat to primary Republicans who voted for the bill.
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Musk has been critical of the legislation, despite his support for the president pushing it.
..... Musk's post came in the middle of the Republicans' lunch meeting. Johnson said it was "passed around" and that the "texted it to a few people" to underscore his point.
..... Thune told reporters he and Musk "have a difference of opinion."
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House Speaker Mike Johnson said the billionaire;s comments were "disappointing" and Musk is "terribly wrong" about the bill.
Medicaid concerns
..... Some Republicans meanwhile, are worried that the cuts are too deep and could affect health care for low-income Americans.
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The House-passed legislation would make major changes to Medicaid, saving $625 billion from the low-income health care program, while pushing an estimated 7.6 million Americans off of their coverage.
..... Senators Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and Jim Justice, R-West Virginia, are worried about a provisions in the bill the House passed that limits states from raising money to pay for their part of Medicaid spending through healthcare-related taxes known as "provider taxes."
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Hawley is also concerned about a portion of the bill he's calling the "sick tax," which would require people who earn between 100% and 138% of the federal poverty level to pay up to $35 per medical service.
..... That income range is currently a salary of $35,365 to $44,367 for a family of four.
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Trump and Hawley also spoke on the phone, during which Hawley said the president assured him that there would be no Medicaid benefit cuts in the final package.
..... Both the provider tax and the "sick tax" could be considered a benefit cut, Hawley said on June 2, [2025] because the former could close rural hospitals and the latter would make it more expensive for people to see the doctor.
What's next?
..... Senators will begin introducing their own version of the bill text, beginning with the least controversial portions of the bill this week [06/02/2025] and ending with the most divisive. that means the changes to Medicaid and tax provisions - both overseen by the Senate Finance Committee - are likely to come later in the month. [06/2025] whatever they craft will need to pass the Senate with at least 50 votes. If there's a 50-50 tie, vice president JD Vance would be required to cast the tie-breaking vote.
..... Senators Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, said he thinks product can pass the House again as long as it doesn't go blow the House's $1.5 trillion in spending cuts and doesn't touch a deal struck with blue-state Republican House members who demanded changes to sate and local tax deductions.