Republicans and Democrats were due to vote on dozens of amendments aimed at altering a budget framework for Trump's tax, border, immigration and military agenda, with a vote to pass the resolution expected in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday.
Trump is pushing hard for Republicans, who narrowly control both chambers, to hand him what he calls “one big beautiful bill” that also would pay for additional resources for securing the U.S. border with Mexico, deporting immigrants and bolstering the military.
“My concern is, if we are having the kind of conversation today three weeks from now, then the distraction will be so great that it will slow down what we try to do,“ Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters.
Republicans have been fighting behind the scenes over proposals to repeal popular environmental policies and overhaul social safety-net programs including Medicaid healthcare for lower-income Americans to generate spending cuts that could help pay for the Trump agenda.
Once Friday's marathon amendment-voting began, the Senate adopted a Republican measure establishing a deficit-neutral reserve fund to help protect Medicaid and the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly.
Some of the failed Democratic measures to protect safety-net programs still drew token support from Republicans including Senators Susan Collins, Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski.
“Democrats will expose the dark corners of the Republican plan,“ Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote-a-rama. “We will lay the case for how Republicans will plan to destroy Medicaid as we know it.”
“It’s always been the conservative position not to add debt; not to add extraordinary amounts,“ Paul, who is expected to oppose passage of the framework, said in an interview.
“This may well be a record amount of debt. I’m not sure we’ve ever voted for $5 trillion in debt,“ the Kentucky Republican said.
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