(WASHINGTON) — Senate Republicans will try to chart a path forward for the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” during a series of meetings on Wednesday — including one where the President Donald Trump will work to shore up support for the megabill that advances his legislative agenda.
Republican members of the powerful Senate Finance Committee will go to the White House to meet with Trump at 4 p.m. Wednesday, multiple White House and Hill sources confirm.
The Finance Committee is responsible for writing the tax policy components of the bill, including the extension of the Trump 2017 tax cuts, a key priority for the package.
The House-passed legislation also boosts spending for the military and border security — while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs. It could also add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to a new analysis out Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Senate Finance Committee’s Republican members are expected to attend the meeting, including Majority Leader John Thune and GOP Whip John Barrasso, who are both on the panel. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who is at odds with the White House and is pushing for deeper cuts than those in the bill the House sent to them, is expected to be at the meeting as a member of the committee, too.
Appearing on ABC News Live Wednesday, Johnson attacked the bill, saying it “doesn’t meet the moment.”
Senate Republicans are separately expected to meet behind closed doors as a conference on Wednesday to discuss the parameters of the bill as a group.
Thune has so far not made clear what his strategy will be for moving the package through the upper chamber. As things currently stand, Thune can only afford to lose three of his GOP members to pass the package, and right now, he has more members than that expressing serious doubts about the bill.
Trump’s meeting with the committee is an opportunity for the president to attempt to sway those senators who have concerns about the bill. Earlier this week, Trump worked the phones and took meetings with many of those senators including Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, Rick Scott and Johnson.
Trump also met with Thune to talk through moving the House-backed bill through the Senate as expeditiously as possible. Lawmakers aim to send a bill to Trump by the Fourth of July.
“We are going to do everything we can here in the Senate and House to get that agenda across the finish line and yes, there are going to be people out there that are going to be detractors and different points of views and opinions and that’s all fine and good. But in the Senate, it is 51 votes. In the House, it’s 218 to get a bill that we can put on the president’s desk that will transform this country,” Thune said on Fox News Wednesday morning.
Thune has maneuvered carefully in recent days, coordinating closely with Trump as the Senate navigates this bill.
“The president is the closer and ultimately it will be up to him to help bring some of these votes home,” Thune said.
Trump works to allay senators’ concerns at the same time Elon Musk attacks the bill online, calling it a “disgusting abomination” in a post on X Tuesday. Musk even chastised those who supported the bill.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk wrote.
Elon Musk’s criticism of the president’s spending bill has provided political cover for Senate Republicans who have concerns. But for others, it also sparked frustration.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis had a blunt message for Musk: “Give us some productive feedback that we can operate on.”
“I mean, is this somebody who has got a lot of insight into the US government over the last six months. Give us some productive feedback that we can operate on. I can’t operate on platitudes or I can’t respond,” said Tillis, who will attend the meeting at the White House.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville suggested that he “doesn’t think” Musk’s position would have a large impact on Senators attempting to pass the bill, but agreed with the billionaire in his criticism of federal spending.
“You know, he looks at it in a different way than we have to look at, because again we’re the ones who have to vote for it and we’re the ones who — we also have to look at the good along with the bad. Nothing is perfect,” Tuberville said of Musk.
Republican Sen. John Kennedy backed up Musk says he’s rightly “frustrated” that “we’re quickly becoming debt slaves.”
“I wish he’d just say what he, what he thinks. Look, I think Mr. Musk — I’m a big Musk fan. I think he’s really smart. I think he’s entitled to his opinion,” he said. “He’s frustrated. I think he believes, in my judgment, correctly, that we’re quickly becoming debt slaves, that Congress needs to re-arm the magical healing power of ‘no’ and I agree with it, having said that I’m not ready to throw in the towel on this bill.”
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