The Republican-led U.S. Senate was racing through votes on a ream of amendments Monday in an attempt to get President Donald Trump’s megabill featuring massive tax breaks and spending cuts to him by a preferred July 4 deadline.
Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” would extend the tax cuts passed in 2017 during the president’s first term, cut spending on Medicaid and food stamps through stricter eligibility requirements and sharply increase funding for immigration enforcement.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican appropriator, voted to advance the measure over the weekend but said she is leaning against the bill without changes aimed at rural hospitals who fear heavy effects from Medicaid cuts. She has filed an amendment that doubles a relief fund for those hospitals with a new top tax rate on the wealthiest Americans.
Collins, who is up for reelection in 2026, would break with the rest of Maine’s congressional delegation if she joins her party in voting for the bill. Sen. Angus King, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, assailed it in a Sunday speech, while Democratic Reps. Chellie Pingree and Jared Golden voted against it when it passed the House in May.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
