{"id":10250,"date":"2025-06-13T12:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-crucial-megabill-changes-could-come-friday\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T12:03:42","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T12:03:42","slug":"capitol-agenda-crucial-megabill-changes-could-come-friday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-crucial-megabill-changes-could-come-friday\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Crucial megabill changes could come Friday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Finance Republicans could release their all-important megabill text as soon as Friday, outlining changes to Medicaid cuts and President Donald Trump\u2019s tax incentives.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with the president at the White House on Thursday and told Blue Light News afterwards to expect Trump\u2019s campaign promises, like tax relief for tips and overtime work, to be intact in the bill text.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president wants his priorities,\u201d Thune said in a brief Thursday evening interview. His comments come after Senate Republicans had been contemplating rolling some of Trump\u2019s tax policies back to make room for larger business tax cuts.<\/p>\n

But there are strategic reasons for Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) to postpone release of his committee\u2019s text until next week. Generally, lawmakers don\u2019t like tax legislation to sit out in the daylight for lobbyists to pick apart.<\/p>\n

The bill text could also drive key policy disagreements. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said if the text doesn\u2019t ease up enough on the proposed Medicaid cuts, he would be willing to force a vote on the Senate floor that could include a rollback of limits on taxes that fund state obligations for the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d be happy to amend the bill on the floor. Quote me on that,\u201d Hawley told reporters on Thursday. \u201cI don\u2019t think that\u2019s probably what leadership wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

There could also be major heartburn for blue-state House Republicans if the bill text waters down their $40,000 state-and-local-tax deduction cap.<\/p>\n

In a notable moment during Thursday\u2019s House vote on the rescissions package, one of the hardcore SALTers, Rep. Nick LaLota, suddenly switched his vote from \u201cno\u201d to \u201cyes\u201d after a huddle with House Speaker Mike Johnson on the floor.<\/p>\n

The New Yorker declined to confirm whether SALT had to do with his flip, but said: \u201cI expect constituents will be quite pleased when they get $40,000 worth of SALT.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other must-reads on megabill dynamics this morning:\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/i>Where GOP leaders are smoothing things over:<\/b> Republican senators and the White House now view Senate hard-liners Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Rick Scott (Fla.) as on track to support the megabill<\/a> they\u2019ve railed against for not slashing enough spending. <\/p>\n

Johnson softened his tone after convincing Trump in a one-on-one phone call to let him work with administration officials on his deficit-reduction plan. Johnson subsequently met with Vice President JD Vance and National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett.<\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/i>Where GOP tensions are rising:<\/b> Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (Ky.) and Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.) released dueling proposals for Homeland\u2019s portion of the megabill<\/a> late Thursday, after GOP leaders deemed the conservative numbers Paul put forward as unworkable.<\/p>\n

\u2014 What else the GOP is tweaking: <\/b>Senate Judiciary\u2019s take on the megabill<\/a>, also released late Thursday, includes new immigration fees and a carrot for Hawley (reauthorization of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act). But it leaves out House-passed language to limit the ability of federal courts to enforce contempt orders and a deregulatory provision known as the REINS Act<\/a>. Republicans could still try to get a version of REINS past the parliamentarian.<\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re watching:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 More reaction to the Israeli strike: <\/b>Hill Republicans were quick to post messages of support after Israel launched what it described as a \u201cpreemptive\u201d military strike<\/a> aimed at Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities. Speaker Johnson posted an Israeli flag on X Thursday night; Thune declared the Senate\u2019s commitment to helping Israel. Israel\u2019s move raises the specter of a broader conflict between the Middle Eastern adversaries that threatens to drag in the U.S.<\/p>\n

\u2014 What happens next on Padilla:<\/b> Speaker Johnson suggested the Senate should censure Sen. Alex Padilla after the California Democrat interrupted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s Los Angeles press conference Friday and was forcibly removed and handcuffed by Secret Service agents<\/a>. Democrats, meanwhile, are decrying \u201ctotalitarianism\u201d; several are demanding Noem to testify before Congress or even to resign.<\/p>\n

Jordain Carney, Eric Bazail-Eimil, Nahal Toosi contributed to this report.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Finance Republicans could release their all-important megabill text as soon as Friday, outlining changes to Medicaid cuts and President Donald Trump\u2019s tax incentives. Senate Majority Leader John Thune met with the president at the White House on Thursday and told Blue Light News afterwards to expect Trump\u2019s campaign promises, like tax relief for tips […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10250"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10250\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}