Trump admin live updates: Trump hits back after Musk criticizes megabill
The Senate on Monday morning began a "vote-a-rama" on proposed amendments to President Donald Trump's megabill for his second term priorities. It comes after a rare weekend session for senators, which included a dramatic 51-49 procedural vote on Saturday night to advance the massive tax and immigration bill and a forced reading of the 940-page bill by Democrats. Overnight Sunday, the Senate parliamentarian ruled more provisions out of order with the reconciliation process Republicans are using to pass the bill with a simple majority. If it passes in the Senate, the bill goes back to the House to consider changes the Senate made to the House's version of the bill, which passed by one vote. Jul 1, 4:23 AMVote-a-rama reaches 19-hour mark The Senate vote-a-rama has been going on for nearly 19 hours. Senators are now seated at their desks on the floor, some with weary faces, others wearing blankets and fuzzy socks -- and many drinking coffee. There is still no clear indication as to when the session will come to a close or when the Senate will proceed to a final vote.The Senate just completed voting on an amendment by Sen. Mike Lee that aimed to strip out wind and solar tax credits from this bill. It failed by a vote of 22-78. Lee's amendment was closely watched partially because members of the House Freedom Caucus wanted it to pass.Lee's amendment was the 33rd vote that the Senate has taken in this vote-a-rama. There are, at present, three more votes queued up. Aides told ABC News those next votes will not be the last of the session, but it is not unclear how many more may follow.Majority Leader Sen. John Thune has now asked his colleagues to keep the next round of votes to 10 minutes each. The longer this goes, the faster we expect senators to vote.-ABC News' Allison Pecorin Jul 1, 3:55 AMTrump hits back after Musk criticizes megabill as 'insane' President Donald Trump responded to Elon Musk's criticisms of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" on Truth Social early Tuesday, suggesting he could direct DOGE to probe subsidies awarded to the billionaire's companies. In recent days, Musk has criticized Trump's megabill as an "utterly insane" piece of legislation that will "destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!" Musk has also threatened to support primary campaigns against lawmakers who back the bill.In response, Trump said early Tuesday that Musk "may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.""No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE," Trump wrote. "Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!"The president also said Musk "knew, long before he so strongly Endorsed me for President, that I was strongly against the EV Mandate. It is ridiculous, and was always a major part of my campaign. Electric cars are fine, but not everyone should be forced to own one."-ABC News' Alex Ederson Jul 1, 3:22 AMCollins blames Democrats for tanking rural funding amendment Sen. Susan Collins blamed Democrats for tanking her amendment to boost the GOP megabill's rural hospital relief fund. She called Democratic senators "hypocrites" for claiming to care about protecting Medicaid and then voting against her efforts to lessen the impacts of the "One Big Beautiful Bill" on hospitals in rural areas."I was surprised at the hypocrisy of the Democrats on it, had they voted for it would have passed easily," Collins told reporters after the vote early Tuesday morning.Georgia Sens. Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock were the only two Democrats out of 22 senators who supported Collins' amendment."They complained repeatedly about the distribution in this bill of Medicaid cuts, hurting individuals in rural hospitals and tax cuts being extended for people who are wealthy. And yet, when we tried to fix both those problems, They took a very hypocritical approach," Collins said.Collins said the outcome of this amendment would have "absolutely no impact" on her decision to support the bill's final passage, however.It's still unclear how Collins will vote. "We'll see what the final bill looks like," she said.-ABC News' Isabella Murray Jul 1, 3:09 AMCollins amendment on rural hospital funding fails Many Democratic senators voted with the majority of their Republican colleagues to block an amendment by Sen. Susan Collins that aimed to increase the amount of money in the rural hospital relief fund.Republicans created the fund to address concerns from moderates that the cuts to Medicaid in President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" would negatively impact rural hospitals in some states. Collins' amendment would have increased the tax rate on individuals earning over $25 million and couples earning over $50 million in order to pay for a $25 billion bump to the rural hospital fund. It failed by a vote of 22-78."When these facilities close their doors the people they serve are often left behind without access to health care," Collins said. "This amendment would help keep them open and caring for those who live in these rural communities. The additional funding is fully offset through a modest increase in the top marginal tax rate."Democrats voted against the bill arguing that it is a "Band-Aid on an amputation.""It provides just a tiny fraction of the nearly $1 trillion in cuts the bill makes to Medicaid," said Sen. Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee."It would be much more logical to simply not cut $1 trillion from Medicaid in the first place," Wyden said. "This amendment doubles down on that flawed plan that's going to set rural hospitals adrift."The rejection of the amendment puts Collins' already tenuous vote on final passage in further danger. She signaled over the weekend she may not support the bill if her concerns about rural hospitals weren't addressed during the amendment process.If Collins casts a vote against the package, it could spell problems for the GOP leadership which can only afford to lose three Republicans when the goes to a final vote.Sens. Thom Tillis and Rand Paul are already expected to vote against the bill. Collins is part of a group of several Republican senators whose support is still uncertain as of the early hours of Tuesday morning.-ABC News Allison Pecorin and Isabella Murray Jun 30, 9:36 PMTrump announces new fragrance called 'Victory 45-47' President Donald Trump announced a new fragrance on his social media platform on Monday evening called "Victory 45-47.""Trump Fragrances are here. They're called 'Victory 45-47' because they're all about Winning, Strength, and Success," Trump wrote on social media. Trump's fragrance collection includes cologne for men and perfume for women. They each cost $249.In December, as president-elect, Trump launched the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" fragrance collection on social media. At the time, the president stated it represented "winning" as well.The "Fight! Fight! Fight!" fragrance costs $199.The original 'Victory' cologne and perfume are currently out of stock.According to a financial disclosure report released in June, Trump made $2.5 million from Trump sneakers and fragrances.-ABC News' Kelsey Walsh Jun 30, 9:24 PMFate of Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' remains uncertain as vote-a-rama hits nearly 12 hours Nearly 12 hours into the vote-a-rama, all indications so far are that the Senate won't be wrapping up anytime soon.Democrats are continuing to offer amendment after amendment on the floor. The Senate is presently taking its 20th vote related to the bill, and right now, the floor appears stalled. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said he thinks Republicans are "stalling.""They don't have a bill. They're delayed. They're stalling. They're cutting a lot of backroom deals," Schumer said of Senate Republicans. "They got a lot of members who were promised things that they may not be able to deliver on, and so they're just stalling."But behind the scenes, Republicans are strategizing. They huddled up for dinner for about an hour on Monday night. Majority Leader John Thune, entering the dinner, said they were trying to find a way to "stick the landing."-ABC News' Isabella Murray and Allison Pecorin Jun 30, 3:33 PMDemocrats use early hours of vote-a-rama to highlight cuts to Medicaid, SNAP Democrats are using Monday's "vote-a-rama" to highlight cuts they say President Trump's megabill will make to Medicaid, SNAP and rural hospitals -- and to hammer in the tax cuts they say this bill gives to the wealthiest Americans. So far, Republicans have defeated all Democratic efforts to modify or reconsider the bill.The Senate voted down 47-53 an amendment led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he said would have undone "the travesty that is at the core of the Republican bill.""Their bill -- the so-called big beautiful bill, which is really a big, ugly betrayal -- cuts taxes for billionaires by taking away health care for millions of people. So what my amendment simply says -- if people's health care costs go up, the billionaire tax cuts vanish," Schumer said. Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, a Republican, argued against Schumer's amendment, saying he incorrectly framed what the bill does."The reality is, the reforms we are putting into place are to try to reign in control of wasteful and fraudulent and abusive spending that actually diverts resources away from the people who these programs really deserve to receive," Crapo said.Democratic Sen. Ed Markey's effort to strip provisions that he said would negatively impact rural hospitals due to cuts to Medicaid also failed, but did receive the support of two Republicans: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture committee, argued that the SNAP provisions in the bill create "chaos for state budgets and hardship for families" and violate budget rules. Her motion was waived by Republicans."The largest unfunded mandate is on the back of kids and veterans and seniors and people with disabilities," Klobuchar said. "It's hurting local grocery stores, it's hurting our farmers and it's all done to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy. I say to our colleagues: vote for families over billionaires."-ABC News' Allison Pecorin Jun 30, 2:29 PMTrump sent note to Powell calling for lower interest rates: White House President Trump sent a handwritten note to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell calling on him to lower interest rates, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Monday's briefing.Leavitt held up the note to reporters, which appeared to have been written by Trump using his signature black Sharpie."I bring to you original correspondence from the president of the United States to our Fed Chair, Jerome Powell," she said. The paper included a list of interest rates from other nations, including Japan and the United Kingdom, which are lower than that of the U.S.A note written on top of the chart read, "Jerome, you are, as usual, 'too late.' You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so. You should lower the rate - by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost! No inflation." "I would remind the Fed chair, and I would remind the entire world that this is a president who was a businessman first, and he knows what he is doing," Leavitt said. "He has a proven economic formula that worked in his first term as president, and it is working again. The one problem that remains is high interest rates for the American people. The American people want to borrow money cheaply, and they should be able to do that. But unfortunately, we have interest rates that are still too high. So, the president sent this note to the Fed chair today." Jun 30, 1:46 PMWhite House urges Republicans to stay unified on Trump megabill The White House had a message for Republicans on Monday as lawmakers rush to try to pass President Trump's megabill before his July 4 deadline."Republicans need to stay tough and unified during the home stretch, and we are counting on them to get the job done," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her briefing. Leavitt was asked about the bill's prospects in the House, which will have to sign off on the Senate changes. There is currently little room for error in either chamber for Republicans -- Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford three defections if all members are present and voting."We need the full weight of the Republican conference to get behind this bill and we expect them to, and we are confident they will," Leavitt said."The president has been working hand in hand with Senate Majority Leader Thune and also our House Republican Leader, or the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, both of whom will be at the White House today to meet with the president yet again. I believe they were here this morning," she added. Jun 30, 10:11 AM'Vote-a-rama' kicks off in the Senate on Trump's megabill The Senate gaveled in on Monday morning to begin a "vote-a-rama" on amendments proposed to President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top Democrat, said his party "will bring one amendment after the other again and again and again to put Republicans on the record." "Mr. President, today Senate Republicans have to decide: choose the American people or bow down to President Trump and his coterie of billionaires," Schumer said in remarks on the floor. He later added, "Every senator will soon have an opportunity to reject this nonsense and vote for commonsense budgeting. Americans will be watching."Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, defended the legislation as bringing tax cuts to American families and argued government programs like Medicaid are in need of reform."Mr. President, it's time to vote," Thune said. Thune added on Trump's bill, "This, Mr. President, will make this country safer, stronger and more prosperous." Click here to read the rest of the blog.
Trump admin live updates: Trump hits back after Musk criticizes megabill The Senate on Monday morning began a "vote-a-rama" on pro...
