| By AP News Photos: YouTube Screenshots After a weekend of setbacks, the Senate will try to sprint ahead Monday on President Donald Trump’s 940-page bill of tax breaks and spending cuts despite a series of challenges, including the sudden announcement from one Republican senator that he won’t run for reelection after opposing the package over its Medicaid health care cuts. Read more. |
| Why this matters: An all-night session to consider an endless stream of proposed amendments to the package, in what’s called vote-a-rama, was abruptly postponed, and is now scheduled to launch as soon as the Senate gavels open. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the “hardest choices” for Republicans are still to come. Democrats plan to bring “amendment after amendment after amendment to the floor, so Republicans can defend their billionaire tax cuts and so they can try to explain their massive cuts to Medicaid to people back home.” The Senate bill includes some $4 trillion in tax cuts, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips. A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found that 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill became law. |
