Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) late Monday mentioned Republicans have been “slowing issues down” within the higher chamber as they labored to garner enough votes to cross the “One, Large, Lovely Invoice Act.”
“They’re slowing issues down as a result of proper now they’re one massive mess,” Schumer advised MSNBC’s “The Final Phrase With Lawrence O’Donnell.”
“They’ve made quite a lot of guarantees, contradictory guarantees to completely different components of their caucus,” he continued within the late-night interview. “Lots of people are squirming as a result of they understand how unpopular what Trump calls the ‘Large, Lovely Invoice,’ — we name the ‘Large, Ugly Betrayal’ — is. They’re squirming. They know the general public does not prefer it.”
His remarks got here forward of the all-nighter senators pulled struggling to get the required votes to cross the large agenda-setting invoice that President Trump goals to have on his desk by July 4.
After Senate passage, the House will need to vote again on the laws, which has seen important adjustments for the reason that decrease chamber narrowly passed its version in late Might.
“I might say a majority of senators, Republican senators, imagine that this invoice may be very dangerous for his or her states, however they do not have the heart to buck Trump. They’re afraid of Trump,” Schumer mentioned Monday. “They’re in an uncomfortable place.”
“They’re preventing with one another, and so they’re slowing every little thing down as a result of they do not have a invoice but,” he continued, including “At this late hour, they nonetheless do not have a invoice.”
Amid the uncertainty, Vice President Vance traveled to the Capitol early Tuesday because the GOP stays brief on the votes wanted to push the reconciliation package ahead. Vance might must forged a tie breaking vote.
The GOP management has set its eyes on Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a key maintain out who for hours has voiced considerations about deep cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Vitamin Help Program (SNAP). Republicans can solely lose three votes — and to this point, Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) have mentioned they may vote in opposition to it.