Washington [US], June 29: Senate Republicans were racing to pass a budget bill that is pivotal to President Donald Trump's second-term agenda ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
Party leadership have been twisting arms for an initial vote on the "Big Beautiful Bill" by Saturday afternoon, following the release of its latest version - all 940 pages - shortly after midnight.
Republicans have been divided over how much to cut from welfare programmes in order to cover the cost of extending some $3.8tn in Trump tax breaks. The sprawling tax and spending measure narrowly passed the House of Representatives two weeks ago.
In a memo sent on Saturday to Senate offices, the White House endorsed the latest revisions to the bill and called for its passage. The memo reportedly warned that failure to approve the budget "would be the ultimate betrayal".
The latest version of the bill is designed to appease some backbench Republican holdouts. It includes an increase in funding for rural hospitals, after some party moderates argued the original proposal would harm their constituents.
Another tweak was made to State and Local Taxes (Salt) - a bone of contention for representatives from high-tax states such as New York.
There is currently a $10,000 cap on how much taxpayers can deduct from the amount they owe in federal taxes. In the new bill, Senate Republicans have raised the Salt limit to $40,000 for married couples with incomes up to $500,000 - in line with what the House of Representatives approved.
But the latest Senate version ends the $40,000 cap after five years - when it would drop back to $10,000.
The legislation still contains some of its core components, including extending tax cuts passed by Republicans in 2017, as well as the addition of new cuts that Trump campaigned on, such as a tax deduction on Social Security benefits and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.
More contentious measures are also still in place, including restrictions and requirements on Medicaid - a healthcare programme used by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.
Democrats have heavily criticised this piece of the bill, saying it will limit access to affordable healthcare for millions of Americans.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 7.8 million people would become uninsured due to such Medicaid cuts.
Senator Patty Murray, a Washington state Democrat, took to social media on Saturday to argue the bill contains "the largest healthcare cuts in history".
Senate Majority Leader John Thune called a possible Saturday vote "aspirational", and it is still unclear whether Republicans can advance the bill.
One Republican senator from Wisconsin, Ron Johnson, told the Fox & Friends programme on Saturday he will be voting "no", saying he still needed time to read it.
"We just got the bill," Johnson said. "I got my first copy at about 01:23 in the morning."
Source: Qatar Tribune
