It's judgment time for John Thune on the "big, beautiful bill"
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune leaves a classified briefing on Thursday. Photo: Kent Nishimura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Everybody has demands for Senate Majority Leader John Thune and the "big, beautiful bill" — none bigger than President Trump, who wants the bill on his desk a week from Friday.
Why it matters: Thune (R-S.D.) needs more time, but the list of GOP holdouts is growing by the hour, especially in the House.
- The Senate cloakroom has already begun calling offices, asking them to be ready to stay in town Saturday and Sunday, two sources familiar tell Axios.
- That doesn't kill the chances of votes Friday just yet, but a group of senators is demanding to see finalized details of the bill, especially the Medicaid portions, even before taking a first procedural vote.
Zoom in: Thune needs to solve three interlocking sets of problems.
- The Senate parliamentarian keeps axing critical parts of the bill. Thune will keep trying, but that eats up time and draws out GOP critics.
- The Senate needs to decide on Medicaid, both in terms of how much to cut and how to do it. A growing number of senators are expressing a preference for going back to the House's freeze on provider taxes.
- The House SALT caucus is savaging the Senate's offerings on a deal.
Between the lines: House Speaker Mike Johnson opened the door Thursday to going to conference and changing the Senate-passed version instead of an up-or-down vote.
- "If there are major modifications that we can't accept, then we would go back to the drawing board, fix some of that and send it back over," he told reporters.
- Earlier this week, House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) told CNN: "When it comes over, we'll pass it."
Zoom out: Trump is reengaging with Congress on what the final version of his "big, beautiful bill" should look like.
- He hosted lawmakers, including Johnson, at the White House on Thursday at an event designed to build political pressure to pass a bill.
- Trump called Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) Wednesday night and ripped the Senate plan for Medicaid provider taxes, saying the House plan was better, according to a person familiar with the matter.
- On the so-called "revenge tax," which was included in the House version, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent demanded that the Senate remove the provision, which had caused consternation among investors and foreign subsidiaries operating in the U.S.
The bottom line: "He just wants us to get a bill on his desk," Thune told reporters tonight after meeting Trump at the White House.
