The White House reiterated its call for the Republican-controlled Congress to pass President Trump’s signature legislation.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects the shared priorities of both the Congress and the Administration,” it said in a statement Saturday, pushing Congress to send the legislation to the president by Independence Day.
“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,” the White House noted further, according to the Washington Times.
Senate Republicans have been rushing to pass the massive bill in time for it to reach President Trump’s desk by his July Fourth deadline. The House approved its version last month.
Late Friday, Senate Republicans released an updated 940-page version of the bill, aiming to hold a procedural test vote on Saturday to start formal debate.
The revisions reflect changes made by several Senate committees during the week to align the bill with the chamber’s budget reconciliation rules, as well as adjustments intended to win over holdout senators.
“This bill implements critical aspects of President Trump’s budgetary agenda by delivering bigger paychecks for Americans, driving massive economic growth, unleashing American energy, strengthening border security and national defense, modernizing America’s air traffic control system, preserving key safety net programs for Americans who need them, while ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Federal spending, and much more,” the administration statement noted.
Several Senate Republicans have expressed concerns about the bill’s $5 trillion debt limit increase and its measures aimed at reducing waste and fraud in Medicaid.
Republican leaders cannot afford to lose more than three votes from their own party, the Times noted. But reports Saturday said that Republicans managed to advance the bill, paving the way for debates.
On Thursday, Trump hosted an event at the White House to rally Republican support for the bill. Later that day, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota and House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana met with the president in the Oval Office to discuss the legislation.
“We can get it done. It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country, which is right now, ‘The Hottest Country anywhere in the World’ — And to think, just last year, we were a laughingstock,” the president wrote on Truth Social Friday.
Key parts of the bill, which include major parts of Trump’s legislative agenda, are now at risk, with more provisions possibly on the chopping block.
The obstacle is that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, an unelected official appointed by the late Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in 2012, is now issuing rulings on what can, and cannot, be included in Trump’s “one big, beautiful” budget package, The Daily Caller reported.
Last week, MacDonough advised that Senate Republicans must strike a slate of banking and environmental provisions from their proposal, including key planks of Trump’s agenda. She blocked GOP efforts to roll back a Biden-era electric vehicle mandate and to strip funding from a federal agency created by Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts to regulate the financial services industry.
MacDonough serves as a de facto referee on Senate rules, including which provisions meet the requirements of the budget reconciliation process. Senate Republicans are using reconciliation to pass Trump’s budget with a simple majority, bypassing the 60-vote filibuster threshold and stopping Democrats from blocking the bill.
Anything ruled ineligible for reconciliation would need 60 votes to pass under current Senate rules, handing Democrats the power to block those provisions.
Senate Democrats are already challenging key parts of the Republican plan, claiming some provisions violate reconciliation rules, which require each section to directly impact spending or revenue.
Democrats are doing everything possible to knock Trump’s priorities out of the final package, and MacDonough is already siding with them on several points, the report said.