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 met with Trump at the White House Wednesday afternoon and emerged saying that Republicans are unified in trying to get the legislation passed.
“This is a team effort, and everybody is going to be rowing in the same direction to get this across the finish line,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said after the meeting.
While Elon Musk was waging an all-out war on bill on X, inside the Capitol, where the sausage making has begun in earnest, there were far fewer fireworks.
Republicans met behind closed doors Wednesday for a full conference meeting to discuss the bill. It was the first of a number of such meetings scheduled to give committee chairs an opportunity to outline their visions for specific modifications to the bill respective to their individual committees.
At this point, it’s still not clear exactly how the Senate intends to move forward on the massive package ahead of Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.
The conference is beginning to work through specific questions related to the bill. In their meeting on Wednesday, senators said they heard from chairs of the Senate Armed Services Committee and Senate Commerce Committee about proposals in the package affecting both of them.
“I think Republicans in the Senate support passing the bill, but making it better than what the House did,” Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said leaving the meeting. “We’re not close to the final bill yet.”
The meeting among Senate Republicans came just moments before a number of Senate Finance Committee Republicans hauled into a white bus and traveled over to the White House for their meeting with Trump.
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.
President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference with Elon Musk (not pictured) in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 30, 2025.
Evan Vucci/AP
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, was also expected to be at the meeting as a member of the committee.
Appearing on ABC News Live Wednesday, Johnson attacked the bill, saying it “doesn’t meet the moment.”
Thune has so far not made clear what his strategy will be for moving the package through the upper chamber. As things currently stand, he can afford to lose only three of his GOP members to pass the package, and right now, he has more members than that expressing serious doubts about the bill.
“We will get this done, one way or the other, and it’s not going to be easy,” Thune told reporters after the meeting with Trump.
Trump’s meeting with the committee was 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.
“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.
A view of the US Capitol, May 7, 2025, in Washington.
Oliver Contreras/AFP via Getty Images
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 Musk attacks the bill online, calling it a “disgusting abomination” in a post on X Tuesday. Musk even chastised those who supported the bill.
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 U.S. 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.”
Thune acknowledged the road ahead will be difficult.
“The wheels are in motion on this,” he said. “As I said before, failure is not an option. We will get this done one way or the other, and it’s not going to be easy.”
-ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Molly Nagle and Kelsey Walsh contributed to this report.
