{"id":10668,"date":"2025-06-26T12:32:38","date_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-thunes-megabill-teeters-on-the-brink\/"},"modified":"2025-06-26T12:32:38","modified_gmt":"2025-06-26T12:32:38","slug":"capitol-agenda-thunes-megabill-teeters-on-the-brink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/capitol-agenda-thunes-megabill-teeters-on-the-brink\/","title":{"rendered":"Capitol agenda: Thune\u2019s megabill teeters on the brink"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is scrambling to quell the Medicaid-fueled mutiny that\u2019s threatening to derail the megabill on both sides of the Capitol.<\/p>\n

In the Senate, \u201cMedicaid moderates\u201d are rejecting Finance\u2019s opening offer of $15 billion for a stabilization fund for rural hospitals to help offset paring back the provider tax in expansion states from 6 percent to 3.5 percent.<\/p>\n

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) called it \u201cinadequate\u201d and warned that even if leadership goes up to the $100 billion she\u2019s seeking, \u201cthat doesn\u2019t solve\u201d her issues with the bill. Thune closed the door to $100 billion soon after.<\/p>\n

Multiple senators are threatening they won\u2019t vote to open floor debate on the megabill without more clarity on Medicaid changes. That includes Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who warned colleagues behind closed doors Wednesday that \u201cyou won\u2019t have a member from North Carolina sitting at this table after next year\u201d unless the Senate changes course, Jordain scooped<\/a>. (Reminder, fellow North Carolina Sen. Ted Budd isn\u2019t up for reelection until 2028.)<\/p>\n

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) later posted on X<\/a> that he spoke with Donald Trump and the president wants the Senate to \u201cstay with the House\u201d on Medicaid. Look for whether Trump issues further instructions Thursday: Several GOP senators are expected to head to the White House for a 4 p.m. event to tout the \u201cbig, beautiful bill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over in the House, wary moderates are also rejecting the rural hospital fund; one told Blue Light News it\u2019s \u201cbullshit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to calm nervous members by telling them he expects the Senate Medicaid language will move closer to the House\u2019s. House GOP leaders and moderates believe the provider tax will end up between 4 percent and 5 percent, according to four people granted anonymity to describe private conversations. Some House Republicans are prepared to swallow that. Others are protesting.<\/p>\n

Those numbers aren\u2019t currently under serious consideration in the Senate, two people granted anonymity to describe the talks told Blue Light News, where there\u2019s general skepticism that rank-and-file Republicans across the Capitol have a good read on the negotiations. (Johnson and Thune are in close contact, though; the Senate leader stepped out of Wednesday\u2019s lunch on the phone with his House counterpart.)<\/p>\n

But a Senate shift could end up happening if Thune\u2019s members force his hand. Asked Wednesday about softening the provider-tax language, Thune didn\u2019t completely close the door. \u201cThis all comes down to what the traffic will bear,\u201d he told Blue Light News.<\/p>\n

Other outstanding megabill issues:<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u2014 Feeling less salty?: <\/b>Blue-state House Republicans expected to receive two options in writing for a potential deal on the state and local tax deduction. Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) said the SALT Republicans\u2019 Wednesday meeting with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) involved a \u201cproductive conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2014 Public-lands push and pull:\u00a0<\/b>Blue Light News obtained Sen. Mike Lee\u2019s (R-Utah) scaled-back plan to sell off millions of acres in public lands<\/a>, which he\u2019s shipped off to the parliamentarian for review. It could still face GOP pushback.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Inside RonJohn\u2019s White House talks: <\/b>Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) told Blue Light News the White House is working with him to establish a budget review panel<\/a> through reconciliation. He\u2019s not a \u201cyes\u201d on the megabill yet, though.<\/p>\n

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

\u2014 Iran briefing:<\/b> Senators will huddle at 2 p.m. for their rescheduled briefing on the Iran conflict. As of late Wednesday night, the potential speaker list included Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs Chair Dan Caine, but Senate aides cautioned the list could change.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Leg Branch markup: <\/b>House appropriators will mark up the Legislative Branch funding bill Thursday<\/a> \u2014 and there is a lot they want to see changed on Capitol Hill, according to their committee report released Wednesday. The panel had thoughts on member security, designated parking spaces, food service that accommodates more allergies and celiac disease, elevator outages and dome tours ahead of Thursday’s markup.<\/p>\n

James Bikales, Josh Siegel and Katherine Tully McManus contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is scrambling to quell the Medicaid-fueled mutiny that\u2019s threatening to derail the megabill on both sides of the Capitol. In the Senate, \u201cMedicaid moderates\u201d are rejecting Finance\u2019s opening offer of $15 billion for a stabilization fund for rural hospitals to help offset paring back the provider tax in expansion states […]<\/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-10668","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\/10668","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=10668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}