A Big, Beautiful weekend on the Hill: 'Everybody having fun yet?'

Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D was ebullient Tuesday afternoon The South Dakota Republican just concluded a lengthy lunch meeting with fellow GOPers and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent about the Big Beautiful Bill Good afternoon Everybody having fun yet Thune solicited the Congressional press corps as he approached the microphone in the Ohio Clock Corridor of the Capitol for his weekly exchange with reporters Ask us around Sunday morning suggested yours truly REPORTER'S NOTEBOOK MARATHON WEEKEND AWAITS SENATE AS JOHNSON PREPARES HOUSE FOR 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' BATTLEIf you are an insomniac Or don t want to see the National Symphony Orchestra Pops perform Dolly Parton s musical canon at the Kennedy Center Or you don t have tickets to see the Savannah Bananas play at Nats Park this weekend The U S Senate may be the place for you Action on the Big Beautiful Bill could happen at any time of the day or night this weekend The Senate is attempting to pass the Big Beautiful Bill sometime on Saturday or Sunday Maybe even early Monday Presuming Senate Republicans can pass the bill If the bill is going to pass do you expect that you at least have two or three members on your side who would vote no I petitioned Thune Could be replied Thune Why I countered Well we've got a lot of very independent thinking senators who have reasons and things that they'd like to have in this bill that would in their view make it stronger answered Thune Hopefully when push comes to shove and everybody has to say yes or no we'll get the number of votes that we need HOUSE CONSERVATIVES GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL'There s more political pushing and shoving in the U S Senate than there is in a line of fourth graders waiting for the water fountain after recess And senators may advance beyond pushing and shoving to actual fighting as Republicans grouse about the bill s contents It s about the math Senate Republicans can still lose three votes and pass the bill with a tie-breaking vote by Vice President Vance Fox was reported that the bill was in trouble if there are ten promising noes now But if the universe of prospective nays is only five they can perhaps whittle that down enough to pass the bill Here are the GOP senators worth keeping an eye on because of workable problems they could have with particular provisions in the law Sens Rand Paul R-Ky Ron Johnson R-Wisc Rick Scott R-Fla Josh Hawley R-Mo Thom Tillis R-N C Mike Lee R-Utah John Kennedy R-La Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska Susan Collins R-Maine John Curtis R-Utah and Jim Justice R-W V That s And a great number of of those on the list could vote yes They may hold out until the end to either outcome a provision in the bill they want Or they want to understand the final product We don't know what's in the bill The parliamentarian has thrown out specific provisions reported Kennedy Look I'm labor I'm not management But I got one vote the same as management does And I'm willing to work nights I'm willing to work weekends But what I'm not willing to do is have someone pat me on the head and say shut up and just vote for it Kennedy reported he unearthed a scarce things in this bill that we weren't notified about And I'm not happy With hat tips to boxing analysts Al Bernstein and Larry Merchant Thune reverted to discussing the physicality of senators When push comes to shove you re looking at whether or not you're going to allow the perfect to become the enemy stated Thune You have to recognize that this is a process whereby everybody doesn't get everything they want SENATE GOP AIMS TO APPROVE MAJOR REGULATION NEXT WEEK AS TRUMP TOUTS PARTY UNITYOne of the majority of outstanding issues remains SALT the deduction for state and local taxes in high-tax states We ll have a explanation on that in to hours explained Bessent after his huddle with GOP senators I know that there are a lot of conservatives who don't like it stated White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett on Fox Business A lot of very vital people in the House who want it as big as it can be And Secretary Bessent is in there working with people to find exactly the right number that'll land the bill So when does the Senate finish The question of when will the Senate get it done that's a great question revealed House Techniques and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith R-Mo They've had it for over six weeks I'm waiting The Senate will likely take a procedural vote to formally get on the bill on Friday If the Senate votes to get on the bill hours of clock time starts to run under special Senate budget rules The procedural vote only requirements a simple majority The hours of time is split Democrats will presumably burn all of their hours Republicans will use a insufficient of their hours So the Senate seemingly begins its vote-a-rama on the bill late in the wee hours of Saturday morning A vote-a-rama is where the Senate takes hours and hours of consecutive roll call votes on amendments to the package It would culminate with passage of the Big Beautiful Bill in the Senate late Saturday or early Sunday SENATE REPUBLICANS LOOK TO SWEETEN MEDICAID POT TO SILENCE DISSENT ON TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL'Note that it is impossible to battle out when this could happen But frankly a final vote could come at any time of the day or night all weekend long if not early Monday Also this scenario presumes everything goes swimmingly The majority of contemporary vote-a-rama ran just under ten hours earlier this year A vote-a-rama consumed hours and minutes with the Senate considering a total of amendments We believe this vote-a-rama might be on the longer end Here s the other wild card How fast can the House pivot to pass the bill and align with the Senate House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La signaled the House may aim to vote on Tuesday Also the -hour rule to allow the House to read the bill before voting does not apply The Senate is sending back to the House an amendment to the original House plan Thus the -hour rule is not in play under these circumstances However the question is if Johnson faces pressure to let the bill marinate for a limited days TRUMP PRESSURES CONGRESS TO PASS 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ' INSISTING 'NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT S DONE'But various House conservatives aren t happy with the Senate measure We're not going to get jammed on this We're just not disclosed Rep Ralph Norman R-S C Rep August Pfluger R-Texas believes the Senate should just accept the House measure since the House could barely pass its version in May We did the hard work of threading a very tight needle with this measure So it does not need to come back looking too much different from what we ended up passing out of the House disclosed Pfluger So the question is whether the Senate can pass its bill And if the House can accept whatever the Senate passes So as I stated if you don t have a lot to do this weekend Capitol Hill may be the spot to be Especially at Sunday morning