The Senate on Monday finally released its first wave of changes to the House-passed reconciliation bill, and Republican critics with opposing views on everything from Medicaid to tax policy found one thing they could agree on: They don’t like the new legislation.
Conservatives inside and outside the Senate don’t think the cuts go far enough. Republican champions of Medicaid think the cuts to that program are far too much. And House GOP lawmakers who fought hard for a huge increase to the state and local tax deduction — only to see the Senate completely disregard the increase — are incensed, promising they won’t support the bill unless every dollar they negotiated for SALT is in the final legislation.
Already, key House Republicans are declaring the bill “dead on arrival.” And Republicans say they expect the text will change, again, despite weeks of talks leading up to this version of the legislation.