As more amendments are called for votes, Republicans continue to huddle behind the scenes to chart a path to ending the marathon vote-a-rama and passing President Donald Trump’s megabill.
It appears increasingly clear there is concern among the Senate GOP leadership that they don’t yet have the votes locked down to pass the bill. Republicans can only lose three votes when this bill comes up for a final vote.
Majority Leader John Thune Sen. Lisa Murkowski walk to the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on July 1, 2025.
Nathan Howard/Reuters
There’s been a very aggressive effort by GOP leadership to work on Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who has so far not said how she intends to vote on this package.
In the last hour, Murkowski has been seen on the floor deep in conversation at various points with Majority Leader John Thune, Republican whip John Barrasso, Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo and fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Murkowski has been a hold out, expressing concern over Medicaid and SNAP provisions.
Thune, walking off the floor, said he and Murkowski were “just chatting”. But he’s not yet denoted a clear path out of this whip count predicament.
Thune was asked, as he walked off the floor, if he could pull the bill back or if he’d be forced to hold a final passage vote on the bill, even if he knows it will fail.
“Those are options I don’t want to have to worry about,” Thune said.
At present, the whip count is a real problem for Thune. Sens. Thom Tillis and Rand Paul are expected to cast votes against the bill. Losing Murkowski or Sen. Susan Collins could be a real problem.
There’s also not yet a clear path forward on how an amendment that aims to further reduce Medicaid spending will be dealt with. The outcome of that amendment vote could sway voters like Sens. Mike Lee and Rick Scott.
At the beginning of this vote, Senators overwhelmingly voted in favor of stripping out provisions in the bill that would limit states from passing rules to regulate artificial intelligence.
The move came after Sen. Marsha Blackburn and Sen. Ted Cruz struck a deal on how to keep the moratorium in the bill, before Blackburn reneged early Tuesday morning.
Before this tranche of votes that Thune teed up, Sen. Joni Ernst’s amendment that bars millionaires from collecting unemployment income support passed by voice vote.
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin
