The Senate parliamentarian has advised that a Medicaid provider tax overhaul central to President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill does not adhere to the chamber’s procedural rules, delivering a crucial blow as Republicans rush to finish the package this week. Republicans were counting on big cuts to Medicaid and other programs to offset trillions of dollars in Trump tax breaks, their top priority.
The attention falling on Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough’s ruling reflects a broader change in Congress: Lawmakers are increasingly trying to wedge top policy priorities into bills that can’t be filibustered. That process comes with special rules designed to deter provisions unrelated to spending or taxes, and that’s where the parliamentarian comes in, offering analysis of what does and doesn’t qualify.
Trump wants the legislation, which includes tax reductions, Medicaid cuts, and border enforcement, passed by July 4.
Other news we’re following today:
Supreme Court to rule on birthright citizenship: Trump’s day-one executive order denying birthright citizenship to U.S.-born children of parents who are in the country illegally has been blocked nationwide by three lower courts. The administration made an emergency appeal to the Supreme Court to narrow the other court orders.Prosecutors tell judge government plans to deport Abrego Garcia to a country that’s not El Salvador: Federal prosecutors told a judge Thursday that the government plans to initiate removal proceedings against Kilmar Abrego Garcia and to deport him to a country that is not El Salvador upon his release from a Tennessee jail. But the prosecutors also said that they would comply with all court orders and that their plans are not imminent.Administration praises Iranian strike, but provides few details on impact: Pentagon leaders laid out new details Thursday about military tactics and explosives to bolster their argument that U.S. attacks had destroyed key Iranian nuclear facilities. They’re working to shift the debate from whether the nuclear targets were actually “obliterated” to what they portrayed as the heroism of the Air Force bombers.
