As the Senate and House reconvene for the week, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) is looking for a reset and to build momentum on President Donald J. Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” after it struggled through a tough week on Capitol Hill last week. President Trump’s July 4th deadline for signing the bill is quickly slipping away (the Senate has just 13 legislative days left) as GOP senators battle one another over spending cuts and other issues in the House-passed bill. Leader Thune wants to get the legislation back on track by convening small working groups to hash out key components of the bill by breaking out portions of the bill to Senate Republican working groups in an effort to make progress on the sections that face the strongest objections — such as nearly $800 billion in spending reductions for Medicaid and $267 billion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Senate Republicans will huddle on Wednesday as senators are expected to be briefed by committee chairs who have yet to release their pieces of their party-line package of tax cuts and extensions, border security investments, energy policy and more. Republicans held a similar meeting last week with panel leaders to discuss the less contentious parts of the bill.
Senate Republicans control 53 seats and can afford only three defections and still pass the bill. No Democrat is expected to support it, and it is not subject to a filibuster.
For today, the Senate is expected to convene at 3:00 P.M. and will take up Confirmation of Executive Calendar #111, Brett Shumate, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Attorney General as well as a Motion to invoke cloture on Executive Calendar #49, David Fotouhi, of Virginia, to be Deputy Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The House reconvened at 2:00 P.M. and will take up twelve bills under suspension of the Rules, including, H.R. 1182 – Compressed Gas Cylinder Safety and Oversight Improvements Act of 2025.
