US Senate Republicans see delays as they face yawning budget hole on Trump bill
Top U.S. Republicans confronted a yawning budget hole in their sprawling tax-cut and spending bill on Friday, signaling that they could miss President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline as they rewrite dozens of elements rejected by a nonpartisan referee, News.az reports citing Investing.
With roughly $600 billion in spending cuts ruled off limits by the Senate parliamentarian, Republicans will have to revise large swaths of the package, which is widely seen as the signature legislation of Trump’s second term in office. That includes some of the most divisive elements of the bill, such as a crackdown on Medicaid "provider taxes" that some Senate Republicans fear could threaten rural hospitals.
With the legislation still unfinished, Trump acknowledged that Congress might not be able to pass it by his deadline of July 4, the U.S. Independence Day holiday. "It’s important, it’s not the end-all," he told reporters at the White House. "We’d like to get it done by that time, if possible."
Asked if the deadline could slip, House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said, "It’s possible, but I don’t want to even accept that as an option right now," while Senate Majority Leader John Thune said only, "We’ll see."
Lawmakers will face a far more serious deadline later this summer, when they need to raise the nation’s self-imposed debt ceiling or risk a devastating default on the nation’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
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