A comprehensive budget bill currently under consideration in the US Senate could lead to a reduction in health insurance coverage for nearly 12 million Americans, while simultaneously increasing the national debt by an estimated $3.3 trillion, according to new projections.
The analysis, conducted by the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), presents a potential hurdle for Republican efforts to pass President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” in the coming days.
The spending plan narrowly passed a preliminary Senate vote late Saturday, following intense lobbying by party leaders to secure the support of wavering members.
Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, one Republican who broke ranks, announced his decision not to seek re-election after voting against the president’s signature legislation.
Democratic lawmakers have been vocal in their criticism of the bill. The CBO estimates that the measure would result in $1 trillion in cuts to healthcare funding if enacted.
The latest version of the bill advanced in the Senate by a vote of 51-49 on Saturday night. Senators Tillis and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined Democrats in opposing the motion.
Senator Paul has expressed his opposition to the bill due to its projected increase in the US debt limit. Senator Tillis has stated that the bill would cost his state billions of dollars in healthcare funding.
While senators continued to debate the bill on Sunday, its prospects for final passage remain uncertain.
Republicans hold a narrow majority in the Senate with 53 seats. With Vice-President JD Vance holding the tie-breaking vote, the party can only afford to lose three members.
Democratic senators employed procedural tactics to force a 16-hour reading of the nearly 1,000-page bill in an attempt to delay a vote on its passage.
Under Senate rules, lawmakers now have 20 hours allotted for debate on the bill. It is anticipated that Democrats will utilize their full time allocation to further delay a vote, while Republicans will attempt to expedite the process.
Lawmakers may also propose amendments to the bill. If the revised bill passes the Senate, it must then return to the House of Representatives for final approval before being sent to the president to be signed into law.
President Trump has urged Congress to pass the bill before a self-imposed July 4th deadline. The White House has stated that failure to pass the bill would constitute the “ultimate betrayal.”
On Saturday, President Trump hailed the Senate’s vote to advance the bill as a “great victory.”
However, the bill’s proposed cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program relied upon by millions of elderly, disabled, and low-income Americans, have become a contentious political issue.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner told CNN on Sunday that the measure would negatively impact millions. “This is tax cuts for the wealthiest to end up cutting healthcare, plain and simple,” he stated.
According to the non-partisan Tax Policy Center, while more than 80% of Americans would receive a tax cut next year under the bill, wealthier taxpayers would benefit the most, including as a percentage of income.
Senator Markwayne Mullin, a Republican from Oklahoma, told NBC on Sunday that the legislation aims to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse.
He argued that many Americans currently using Medicaid are not below the poverty line.
“We don’t pay people in this country to be lazy,” he said. “We want to give them an opportunity. And when they’re going through a hard time, we want to give them a helping hand.”
Some sections of the spending bill were revised in the Senate in an effort to appease Republican holdouts.
The bill still retains its core components, including tax cuts that Trump campaigned on, such as a tax deduction on Social Security benefits, and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.
It would also extend tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017.
The bill proposes cuts to certain programs in order to offset the cost of the tax deductions.
Concerning healthcare, the spending bill proposes a work requirement for most adults to qualify for benefits.
It also reduces the amount of taxes that states can charge medical providers, funds which are heavily used to finance Medicaid programs.
After some Republican senators expressed concern that these cuts would negatively impact rural hospitals in their districts, lawmakers added a provision in the latest bill that increases the size of a rural hospital relief fund from $15 billion to $25 billion.
The bill includes restrictions on the US food stamps program, requiring most adults with children aged 14 or older to provide proof of work in order to qualify.
It also shifts some costs from the federal government to states, starting in 2028.
Follow the twists and turns of Trump’s second term with North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher’s weekly US Politics Unspun newsletter. Readers in the UK can sign up here. Those outside the UK can sign up here.
The rapper was convicted of transporting people for prostitution and could be released on bail.
In total, the jury deliberated for 13 hours over three days to come to a unanimous decision on the charges against Combs.
A New York jury clears Combs of the most serious charges, but finds him guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution.
On Tuesday the White House said that it had cut off some weapons deliveries to Ukraine in order “to put America’s interests first”.
The panel has reached a verdict on four of the five counts in the rap mogul’s sex trafficking trial.