The Democrats’ strategy of postponing a vote on President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” in the Senate has ended, but the Republicans’ vote is still far off.
On Saturday, the Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer of New York, had the Senate floor clerks read out loud the whole Senate Republican version of Trump’s megabill. The 1,490 page legislative monster took over 16 hours to read in its entirety and continued well into Sunday.
The clerks were ordered by Schumer to study the measure in the hours leading up to the procedural vote, which was eventually successful despite the controversy. Speaking on X after he insisted on reading the bill, he stated, “Republicans are squirming.”
“I know damn well they haven’t read the bill, so we’re going to make them,” stated the politician.
It’s a tactic that Senate Democrats like Chuck Schumer have employed before, but Republicans have kept them from having a say in the president’s agenda, so it’s not new.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) had a similar objection in 2021 and wanted the full American Rescue Act, which had been introduced by former president Joe Biden, read aloud by the Senate clerks.
Now that the reading is out of the way, legislators will plod on with 20 hours of evenly divided discussion between Republicans and Democrats. Unlike Senate Republicans, who are anticipated to burn up their time allotment in a matter of hours, Senate Democrats are expected to make the most of every second.
Republicans like Kentucky Senator Rand Paul, who is opposed to the package, will utilize that opportunity to voice their opposition. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) may have more than just him to worry about, even though he is not expected to back ultimate approval.
Despite Trump’s social media attacks and threats of a primary challenger, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina is not inclined to withdraw his vote for final approval unless significant revisions are made to the Medicaid provisions of the measure.
By announcing his retirement from Washington at the conclusion of his tenure, Tillis further solidified his opposition to the plan and avoided what was anticipated to be a difficult primary struggle.
Republican senator from Maine Susan Collins has been an outspoken supporter of the bill throughout its first round of testing and is calling for concrete reforms to the Medicaid provider tax rate.
Next, there are the budget hawks who, on Saturday night, held the vote hostage while they negotiated with Thune and Vice President JD Vance to change the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP), the amount that the federal government pays each state for Medicaid.
With the exception of fiscal hawks who want further cutbacks in the massive measure, most Republicans in the Senate do not support changing FMAP.