The major snags holding up Trump’s ‘big bill’ as the Senate prepares to vote

Amna Nawaz:

Well, it's looking like a make-or-break weekend for the president's big budget bill and his hope of passing it by July 4. Republican senators have not yet posted text of their proposal, but "PBS News Hour" has learned they hope to start voting tomorrow.

Congressional correspondent Lisa Desjardins was again back on the Hill today and joins us now.

Good to see you, Lisa.

Lisa Desjardins:

Hello.

Amna Nawaz:

So, bring us up to speed. Where do things stand with this bill that the president calls the big, beautiful bill?

Lisa Desjardins:

Still big. I would say right now more uncertain than anything else.

My sources are telling me that Republicans in the Senate hope to post their text tonight. It sure would be nice to see ahead of the vote, which they are hoping to have tomorrow. But hope is the right word here, because across the Capitol and both chambers, this bill has hit a number of snags.

I want to look through just some of them. These are the major ones, first, a few with Medicaid. There, you can see there are issues with the timeline. Some senators want to delay the Medicaid cuts. There's issues also with rural hospitals. And, increasingly, we're hearing from House members they are concerned that undocumented immigrants can still get coverage through states.

The parliamentarian ruled that out, but they want it. They want to make sure that provision comes back. There's a state and local tax deduction. There's green energy tax cuts. But, wait, there's still more snags that they have to deal with here. And you see the federal land sales and also artificial intelligence regulation, all of this in play.

Trying to get these through the parliamentarian and through both chambers really means that the Senate leader and House speaker have their work cut out for them. But they're trying to move forward as soon as tomorrow.

Amna Nawaz:

And we know the President Trump is pushing hard for this. He wants it done by July 4. He's made a lot of big statements about the bill in the past couple of days. I know you have read through the latest version that's out there. You have gone through the numbers. What do we know about what he said?

Lisa Desjardins:

Well, let's start with what he said about the biggest benefit that's in this bill.

Donald Trump, President of the United States: It's a great bill. It's a massive tax cut. If it's not approved, your taxes will go up by 68 percent. Think of that, 68, a record, the highest in the history.

Lisa Desjardins:

This needs some context.

He is right. Myself and producer Doug Adams checked this out that this would be the largest tax increase in history, but only by dollar figures, not by percent of GDP. That other number, 68 percent tax increase, that's not right, Amna. I think Republicans would say that's a conflation.

The actual number is that 64 percent of Americans could see a tax increase.

Amna Nawaz:

OK. And you also, I know, have been talking about the changes to Medicaid. The president has been talking about that as well. What has he said? What do we know to be true?

Lisa Desjardins:

That's right.

I want to look at a specific way that President Trump put this today.

Donald Trump:

We're cutting $1.7 trillion in this bill and you're not going to feel any of it. And your Medicaid is left alone. It's left the same.

Lisa Desjardins:

OK, specifically, let's go back over what he just said there. Here's a checklist so we can go through it. He said there are $1.7 trillion in cuts. You won't feel any of it and Medicaid is the same as it is now.

Let's start by you and I talking about that first one. Are there $1.7 trillion in spending cuts in this bill? By one estimate, the Penn Wharton estimate, yes, there is. So when you look at that and try and talk about it, it's accurate or not, you can check that off the list that indeed that one, that first one, the $1.7 trillion, that's accurate.

Let's look at the next one. You won't feel the cuts. Amna, this bill contains cuts across many sectors, not just Medicaid, but also student loans, for example, things that hit a wide variety of American life. Well, some Americans may not feel it. By congressional budget estimates, millions of Americans will.

So when you look at that checklist again, that is something we have to put an X on. That's not accurate. Finally, let's end with that last one, that Medicaid will be the same. This one is also a bit simple. I think even Republicans would say, no, that's not right. They want to change Medicaid.

And when you look at the idea here, is it being cut or not, Republicans will say, well, we're cutting the rate of growth, not necessarily cutting — there will be more spending on it. But that cut in the rate of growth is significant. It would be a cut in spending.

Amna Nawaz:

Lisa Desjardins with some important clarifications tonight, thank you, as always.

Lisa Desjardins:

You're welcome.