President Trump on Thursday amped up pressue on senators to pass his signature domestic policy bill by July 4, calling it "the ultimate codification of our agenda."
The "big, beautiful bill" is on life support in the Senate, with Republicans scrambling to save the megabill following a major setback delivered by the chamber's rules enforcer this week.
"We don't need grandstanders," Trump said of the Senate GOP holdouts during an event at the White House, telling members of the public to call their senators and representatives. "We have to get this vote."
Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has said several of the bill's major provisions could not be included in their current form as Republicans aim to shield the megabill from a Democratic filibuster.
Senate Democrats estimate the parliamentarian rejected approximately $250 billion in spending cuts from the Republican bill, giving GOP leaders a huge task in finding new ways to offset the cost of Trump's tax cuts.
The White House on Thursday dug in on the July 4 deadline, saying the president expects to have the legislation finished and on his desk for a signature despite the rulings from the Senate parliamentarian.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said the parliamentarian's ruling against a key spending cut in the bill is going to be a major problem for Senate conservatives.
"I don't anticipate now us voting on the motion to proceed tomorrow. I think my colleagues who view the bill more as a spending reduction bill than an extend-the-tax-cuts bill are probably going to be screaming like they're part of a prison riot because this substantially reduces savings," he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) had hoped to hold a vote today to start debate on the bill, but several Republicans said the initial vote may be pushed to Saturday.
Thune reportedly met with Trump on Thursday at the White House, saying the pair discussed a "number of issues" tied to the bill and the president insisted on having the bill passed by the Senate, and then again the House, by Independence Day.
▪ The Hill: Senate parliamentarian's no-go list: 15 pieces struck from Trump's megabill.
▪ The Wall Street Journal: Who is the parliamentarian and what is her power in the Senate?
▪ The Hill: Trump economic advisor warns of recession if 'big, beautiful bill' is delayed
MacDonough advised Thursday that major pieces of the GOP megabill's Medicaid policy can't pass with a simple majority. Much of the savings in the bill come from Medicaid cuts, and the ruling impacts several of the largest and most controversial ones, including a plan to slash states' use of health care provider taxes as well as several measures related to health care for immigrants.
Thune told reporters his leadership team has "contingency plans" to keep the bill moving forward, even though the key piece may now fall out of the bill.
"We have contingency plans, plan B, plan C," he said as he walked into a Republican lunch meeting.
Senators will need to rewrite the provision to satisfy the complex legislative rules that will allow them to bypass the filibuster and advance their bill on a party-line vote — or scrap it altogether and find another way to earn the savings.
Republicans had already been struggling to reach a consensus on the provider tax provision, as GOP senators including Josh Hawley (Mo.), Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Jerry Moran (Kan.) said they were worried about the impact it would have on rural hospitals.
"We have no idea what's going to happen here, we got to work on some kind of a fix," Hawley said. "Hopefully their fix will involve protecting rural hospitals."
▪ The Hill: House GOP hard-liners fume at Senate parliamentarian's Medicaid rulings.
▪ The New York Times: MacDonough has not yet ruled on all parts of the bill. The tax changes at the centerpiece of Trump's agenda are still under review.
▪ The Hill: These House Republicans are a "no" on the Senate megabill amid a public land sales push.
Thune said Thursday the Senate would not move to overrule the parliamentarian even as multiple conservative Republicans called on the Senate to sideline MacDonough. Sens. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) called for MacDonough's removal.
"No, that would not be a good option for getting a bill done," Thune told reporters at the Capitol.
Other senators said they would find a way to move forward without taking drastic action.
"We're doing the usual process of trying to figure out how to achieve the same goal without having to go there," said Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who added he still expected to vote on the megabill before next week.
With the megabill's timing and content up in the air, Kennedy questioned whether Republican lawmakers would stay in town if there's no certain timeline for voting.
"I'm prepared to stay the whole week but as a practical matter a lot of people are running for an election, a lot of people have plans. One of John's challenges is going to be … keeping people here," he said of Thune. "People say, 'Well, when you're ready, call me. I'm going home.'"
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