Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' faces Republican family feud as Senate reveals its final text

Senate Republicans unveiled their long-awaited version of President Donald Trump s big beautiful bill but its survival is not guaranteed Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham R-S C revealed the stitched-together text of the colossal bill late Firday night The final product from the upper chamber is the culmination of a roughly month-long sprint to take the House GOP s version of the bill and mold and change it The colossal package includes separate pieces and parts from Senate committees With the introduction of the bill a simple procedural hurdle must be passed in order to begin the countdown to final passage When that comes remains an open question Senate Republicans left their daily lunch on Friday under the assumption that a vote could be teed up as early as noon on Saturday HOUSE CONSERVATIVES GO TO WAR WITH SENATE OVER TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL'Sen John Kennedy R-La explained Fox News Digital that he had strongly encouraged Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D to put the bill on the floor for a vote Saturday afternoon If you're unhappy with that you're welcome to fill out a hurt feelings account and we will review it conscientiously later Kennedy declared But in the meantime it's time to start voting But Senate Republicans desire to impose their will on the package and make changes to already divisive program tweaks in the House GOP s offering could doom the bill and derail Thune s ambitious timeline to get it on Trump s desk by the July deadline However Thune has remained firm that lawmakers would stay on program and deliver the bill to Trump by Independence Day When solicited if he had the vote to move the package forward Thune stated we ll find out the coming day TOP TRUMP WELLBEING OFFICIAL SLAMS DEMOCRATS FOR 'MISLEADING' MAINTAINS ABOUT MEDICAID REFORMBut it wasn't just lawmakers who nearly derailed the bill The Senate parliamentarian the true final arbiter of the bill ruled that numerous GOP-authored provisions did not pass muster with Senate rules Any item in the big beautiful bill must comport with the Byrd Rule which governs the budget reconciliation process and allows for a party in power to ram rule through the Senate while skirting the -vote filibuster threshold That sent lawmakers back to the drawing board on a slew of strategy tweaks including the Senate's changes to the Medicaid provider tax rate cost-sharing for food benefits and others Republican leaders the White House and disparate factions within the Senate and House GOP have been meeting to find middle ground on other pain points like tweaking the caps on state and local tax SALT deductions While the controversial Medicaid provider tax rate change remained largely the same a billion rural hospital stabilization fund was included in the bill to help attract realizable holdouts that have raised concerns that the rate change would shutter rural hospitals throughout the country On the SALT front there appeared to be a breakthrough on Friday A source advised Fox News that the White House and House were on board with a new plan that would keep the cap from the House's bill and have it reduced back down to after five years But Senate Republicans are the ones that must accept it at this stage Sen Markwayne Mullin R-Okla has acted as the mediator in those negotiations and explained that he was unsure if any of his colleagues love it But I think as I've mentioned before I want to make sure we have enough that people can vote for than to vote against he explained Still a laundry list of other pocket issues and concerns over just how deep spending cuts in the bill go have conservatives and moderates in the House GOP and Senate pounding their chests and vowing to vote against the bill Republican leaders remain adamant that they will finish the mammoth package and are gambling that several lawmakers standing against the bill will buckle under the pressure from the White House and the desire to leave Washington for a short break Once a motion to proceed is passed which only requires a simple majority then begins hours of debate evenly divided between both sides of the aisle 'BABY STEPS' LEADER THUNE DETAILS HIS WORK TO CORRAL REPUBLICANS BEHIND TRUMP'S LEGISLATIVE VISIONDemocratic lawmakers are expected to spend the entirety of their allotted hours while Republicans will likely clock in well below their limit From there starts the vote-a-rama process when lawmakers can submit a near-endless number of amendments to the bill Democrats will likely try to extract as much pain as doable with messaging amendments that won't genuinely pass but will add more and more time to the process Once that is complete lawmakers will move to a final vote If thriving the big beautiful bill will again make its way back to the House where House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La will again have to corral dissidents to encouragement the statute It barely advanced last month squeaking by on a one-vote margin Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hammered on the importance of passing Trump's bill on time He met with Senate Republicans during their closed-door lunch and spread the message that advancing the colossal tax package would go a long way to giving businesses more certainty in the wake of the president's tariffs We need certainty he commented With so much uncertainty and having the bill on the president's desk by July will give us great tax certainty and I believe accelerate the commercial sector in the third quarter of the year