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Senate Holding Rare Saturday Session As GOP Pushes Trump Agenda Bill; Democrats Plan To Force Senate To Read Aloud Trump's Agenda; The Face Of Medicaid Recipients; GOP Pushes Trump Agenda Bill; Senate Holds Rare Saturday Session. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired June 28, 2025 - 16:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.

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FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And tonight, CNN's Fareed Zakaria takes a look at the fragile state of relations between the U.S. and Iran. Tune in tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern for "UNITED STATES VS. IRAN; A FAREED ZAKARIA SPECIAL."

Hello, again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we continue to watch Capitol Hill because President Trump's sweeping agenda is facing a pivotal moment there. Very soon, beginning this hour, right now, senators are convening on Capitol Hill for a rare Saturday session. Lawmakers are expected to gather in the Senate chambers as they prepare for a procedural potential key vote to advance the president's so-called big beautiful bill.

Republicans released the full text of the giant 940-page bill just before midnight, and they can only lose -- they can only rather afford to lose meaning Republicans lose three votes in today's expected procedural vote.

Just a short time ago, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis told CNN that he remains a no on this bill. And earlier, CNN spoke with two other holdout senators who now say they will vote in favor of at least advancing the bill. But at this hour, the bill's future remains very uncertain.

We have a team of correspondents covering today's developments. Let's start with Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill.

Lauren, so where are we right now?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, we expect that this procedural vote could get started and get underway very shortly. Obviously, there's a lot of concern about making sure that the votes are there, but multiple Republicans that I talked to over the course of the last half hour have said that the leadership would not be moving forward with this vote if they didn't think that they had the votes.

Now, that doesn't mean that they might not need to bring in the vice president as a potential tie breaker. We already know that Senator Ron Johnson is opposed to moving forward with this proposal. We know Thom Tillis is opposed to moving forward with this proposal, as well as Senator Rand Paul, who has made clear he has concerns that this bill does not cut spending enough, including the fact that it includes a hike in the country's borrowing limit, about $5 trillion.

So that gives you a sense of just how on the razor's edge this Republican leadership is going into this procedural vote. Democrats also making clear that they are going to pull out all of the procedural stops over the course of the next 48 hours to try to slow this process down. Now, ultimately, they won't be able to stop it because Republicans can move forward with their own GOP votes.

But that gives you a sense that this could take a lot of time. Democrats may force a full reading of this bill that could take several hours and delay this process. So this is going to be a very lengthy debate. Things can change in this bill. Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, said he was opposed to moving forward with this bill. Then he said that just a short time later, he'd cut a deal with leadership, potentially being willing to vote to get onto this bill.

So again, so many moving parts right now, so many things are changing on the fly. But we expect that they could get underway with a procedural vote very shortly.

WHITFIELD: And then, Lauren, Senator Susan Collins was one to watch. She voted in favor of at least moving things along, getting the procedure under place. But she's not necessarily on board with this more than 900-page proposal thus far. Correct?

FOX: Well, yes. Senator Susan Collins said that she plans to vote to advance this legislation when they come to the floor and have that vote. But she's making clear she still has some broader concerns about some of the Medicaid provisions, especially the impact it could have in rural hospitals in her state of Maine. So that is obviously a senator to watch.

Now, leadership can really change this bill all the way to the end. That is what this lengthy vote-a-rama process could unfold. And I think that that is part of the reason this is so unpredictable right now, because everything is changing on the fly. People are cutting deals in order to get them willing to vote to proceed on this bill. So that just gives you a sense of how much is changing, how much horse trading is happening right up until the very last moment.

Obviously, everyone is very well-aware that this is a top priority for the president. He wants to sign this bill by the 4th of July recess. And we should note that even if the Senate can get this process moving, even if they can pass this bill in the next several days, it still has to go back to the House of Representatives, and Speaker Mike Johnson convened a short but very clear call with his members just a short time ago this afternoon in which he made clear to them, keep your powder dry.

[16:05:08]

If you have concerns about this bill, don't be tweeting about them. If you have concerns about this bill, go directly to senators and try to get this bill changed in those ways back channeling rather than just saying that you're going to be drawing a line in the sand, that you're going to be voting against it. Clearly, the implication here he knows is that he's going to have to wrangle his members in the next couple of days as well. So once this gets through the Senate, if it does, it has to go all the way back to the House.

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, Lauren, I don't know if you have a return monitor where you are, but I am seeing some activity, some senators or people walking into the chambers now. If and when that room fills up, is that when this procedural vote will get underway, or will there be some other order of business first?

FOX: Yes, I mean, you're definitely going to know when the procedural vote gets underway. We'll start to hear the bells. Obviously, what you're seeing right now on the floor is a lot of staff wrangling around, getting ready for this procedural vote, but it's going to be really interesting to watch how long this vote takes, in part because there's always the possibility that they might need a tie breaker, which means you have to make sure that the vice president can get here.

So that is going to be something, obviously, to watch. And then any kind of discussion that happens on the Senate floor once this vote begins, that's going to be really essential to watch, because, again, leadership can always change people's minds on the floor. We have seen it time and time again. Once people get on the floor, things can start to change. Negotiations can happen.

So we're going to be watching really closely once this gets underway. And again, we'll just get a better sense of how things are moving depending on how long this takes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Lauren Fox, we'll check back with you. Thank you so much.

Let's go to the White House right now. That's where we find Betsy Klein. Obviously, the president watching this very closely. He stayed in Washington so as to be nearby.

Now, you know, Lauren underscored there is this goal of July 4th. But at the same time, we heard the president suddenly kind of sound squishy on it doesn't have to be July 4th. It'd be nice, but, you know, there's no real rush. So what is going on? Why does it feel like there is a rush?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, President Trump and his team are tracking every twist and turn here very closely. And there is a belief that slowing down this process, they could lose some of that momentum that they currently have if they carry this past the 4th of July recess, but they are aware of all of these hurdles and uncertainties that Lauren just laid out. These very razor thin margins in the Senate.

But this is really mission critical for this White House and this president really viewing this massive tax and spending package as critical to unlocking his domestic policy agenda while Republicans hold control of both the House and the Senate. And it is for that reason that President Trump, along with Vice President JD Vance, have really spent the last 48 hours or so working the phones and asking some Republican senators, even to come to the White House.

The president scrapping that planned trip to his New Jersey club, instead spending a very rare weekend here in Washington where he actually spent several hours on the golf course in Northern Virginia with a trio of Republican senators. That is Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, along with Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri, and a key holdout here, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was also on the golf course with them, according to Graham.

He said, "The golf team of POTUS, Senator Rand Paul and I defeated the duo of Senator Eric Schmitt and the CIA director." He went on to say that the big, beautiful bill is on the way. So of course, with those very thin margins, Paul himself has said he is opposed to this bill. He's concerned about the debt ceiling limit in there, that provision. So this could be a very critical move by the president to spend some time with him today.

But the reality is there are still some very deep policy divisions within the president's party on the size and scope of this bill, along with the debt ceiling increase. There are also concerns about potential cuts to Medicaid from several Republicans. The White House had been pushing toward getting this done by the 4th of July. But the president, as you mentioned, has been softening in recent days.

He said, quote, "It's important, but it's not the end all." So the White House, watching this very closely and of course, as Lauren mentioned, this is just a key first step. They will then have to get all of these changes through the House of Representatives before it can go to the president's desk -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein at the White House, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

All right. Let's talk further now, with us is congressional reporter for "The Hill," Mychael Schnell.

Mychael, great to see you. So, you know, Betsy is underscoring right there, you know, the president says it's not the end all to meet that deadline by July 4th.

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But here it is a working weekend now for these senators who are trying to hammer something out. How are they prioritizing what needs to stay in this bill or what needs to go in order to at least come close enough to meeting that July 4th deadline?

MYCHAEL SCHNELL, CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER, THE HILL: Yes. Hey, Fred, look, the tricky part here is that the concerns with the bill are varied. It's not like there's one bloc of vote of senators who are saying they're not going to vote for the bill because of one issue, but there are a number of senators who have different qualms with this legislation. One thing that we've heard a lot about is the Medicaid cuts that talk about these provider tax provision in the legislation, concerns about what would happen to rural hospitals if this went through.

We're also hearing from deficit hawks who are concerned with the level of spending cuts. They wish it was more. And then there's Rand Paul, who has continued to say that he is concerned with the debt limit provision. That's the tricky part here, is sometimes with these negotiations, when you fix an area of opposition and turn it into support, you can prompt another area of opposition on the other side.

But look, we are going to see this process likely get underway very shortly. The Senate expected to take that first procedural vote soon. It's expected to pass after Senator Tim Sheehy, a Republican from Montana, just flipped his stance. He said he was initially not going to vote for the motion to proceed because he's opposed to a provision in the bill that would prompt the sale of public lands.

That's something he was not in favor of, but he just spoke to leadership, and he got agreement that he's going to have an amendment on the floor. There's going to be a vote on an amendment to potentially strip that language. So that's a good sign. It's a good sign for Republicans that they're going to be able to likely advance this thing. But that, and I cannot stress this enough, is just the first step here. There is still so much to be done to actually get this thing out of the chamber.

WHITFIELD: Right. So that's just the first step procedural vote. But then of course, there are people who are quite adamant, or at least have been quite adamant in opposition of this, you know, big bill. Ron Johnson, Thom Tillis, Rand Paul. What might sway them to get them more on board with trying to come close to adhering to the agenda that the president has set forth?

SCHNELL: That is the big question. We know that Thom Tillis, in particular, has been very concerned about the Medicaid provisions in the bill, concerned about rural hospitals in his state. Well, to try to assuage those concerns, Republican leadership overnight inserted a provision in the bill that was a $25 billion rural hospital stabilization fund. Essentially the idea here is that if this provider tax negatively impacts rural hospitals across the country, they can fill that financial void with this $25 billion.

The question is, will that be enough? For somebody like Senator Hawley, that was enough. For somebody like Thom Tillis, clearly it's not. So I suspect there are a number of conversations going on behind closed doors. I will note, once the motion to proceed happens, we're going to eventually get into what's called a vote-a-rama, which is an opportunity for lawmakers, senators, to put as many amendments as they want on the floor.

These tend to run very long, and we could see the bill potentially change at that moment. We could potentially see some tweaks and new text beforehand. This is a very moving, fluid process. While we are getting close to this first vote, by no means is this bill final. Expect there to still be a number of tweaks.

WHITFIELD: Right. All right, Mychael, don't go far. We're going to get right back to you. We're going to take a short break for now as we continue to watch ahead of a expected procedural vote there in the Senate. We're going to be continuing to follow these developments on Capitol Hill as we all await. Pins and needles. We'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Back with our breaking news right now. Senators are convening on Capitol Hill for a rare Saturday session. Lawmakers are gathered in the Senate chamber as they prepare for a potential key vote to advance the presidents so-called big, beautiful bill. And now, Senate Democrats are planning a major delay tactic to slow down the Senate's passage of President Trump's agenda.

Let's get back to Lauren Fox now on the Hill.

We were awaiting this procedural vote, or at least representatives or senators to gather to have this procedural vote. But now what is this delay about? What's the delay demand?

FOX: Yes. So we still expect that this procedural vote could get underway shortly. Our colleagues who are watching the floor really closely in this moment say that they're seeing a lot of Democrats milling about on the floor, not quite as many Republicans, but we expect that that procedural vote could get underway shortly.

Now, if they have the votes to advance this process, and that remains a big if and is probably why things are taking a little bit of time, then they will move on to what is going to be a very lengthy discussion and debate on this bill. So first, what's going to happen is they'll have this procedural vote if they can advance the bill, then they will move on to a full reading of the legislation.

That is something that Senate Democrats are going to request. That is within their rights to request. But it could take between 10 and 15 hours to complete because we are talking about a bill that is more than 900 pages long. Once they get through that 10 to 15 hours of the reading of the bill, then they begin debate on this legislation in the Senate here on this bill. You have 20 hours of debate evenly divided between Republicans and Democrats.

We expect Republicans would likely yield most of their time back. But if you're adding together 10 hours of reading the bill, another 10 to 12 hours of debate, that gets you to 22 or so hours before you even get on to what is known as the vote-a-rama.

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This is a marathon once again for lawmakers because they can throw up any vote on any issue related to this bill, force their colleagues to have a discussion about it. That process goes on as long as lawmakers can stand it. So that process could also be extremely lengthy. Then and only then would they get on to a final vote on this legislation. So we are talking about potentially not even beginning this vote-a- rama, this marathon series, until potentially tomorrow evening. Then that could go on for several hours before you get to a final vote.

So that just gives you a sense of the fact that this rodeo is just getting underway in the United States Senate. And again, we are still waiting for that procedural vote to begin. We're watching very closely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Potentially a long way to go. All right, Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. We'll check back with you momentarily. We're going to take a short break for now, and we'll be right back.

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WHITFIELD: Welcome back. Live pictures right now of Capitol Hill Senate chambers, where you are seeing lawmakers are preparing for a potential key vote to advance President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill. And now Senate Democrats are planning a major delay tactic to potentially slow down the Senate's passage of the agenda by forcing clerks to spend an estimated 10 to 15 hours reading aloud the entire bill. It's over 900 pages.

And as Republican senators try to advance President Trump's agenda, American families say those lawmakers' decision on proposed cuts to Medicaid could mean life or death.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny has that.

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COURTNEY LEADER, DAUGHTER RELIES ON MEDICAID: I know that they're saying that they're not planning to cut Medicaid, right? I reached out, concerned that if any changes are made, there will be this trickle-down effect that will impact families like mine.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The front lines of the Medicaid debate are right here in Courtney Leader's kitchen.

What is the face of Medicaid, do you think? And is it different than you think some people may assume?

LEADER: I mean, we are the face of Medicaid.

ZELENY (voice-over): The Missouri mother of five wrote her Republican senator, Josh Hawley, to explain how slashing benefits would be devastating to her 9-year-old daughter, Serena, who lives with brain damage and cerebral palsy.

LEADER: Our private insurance won't cover the formula. It doesn't cover the feeding tube pump. The hit on our budget, it would be over $1500 a month, just for the formula, just for the pump rental. And those are things that we have to have to keep my daughter alive.

There's my beautiful smile.

ZELENY: We came along for the ride, sitting behind Serena's nurse, who's funded by Medicaid, as they drove to weekly therapy sessions, also paid by Medicaid, which more than one in five Missourians rely on for health coverage.

LEADER: We cannot let people like my daughter lose her benefits. And if anybody tells you that, oh, she's covered, she's protected, I would really encourage you to say how. What provisions have you made to make sure that those who meet eligibility requirements are covered?

ZELENY: We visited Ozarks Food Harvest, which distributes food across one-third of Missouri.

What is the demand like for food?

BART BROWN, CEO, OZARKS FOOD HARVEST: Unfortunately, Jeff, right now the demand for food is quite a bit higher than it was even at the height of the COVID crisis.

ZELENY (voice-over): Congress is weighing billions in cuts to food assistance programs like SNAP, once known as food stamps. That will increase demand at already crowded food pantries like this.

How important is this food to you?

JUNE OWENS, MARSHFIELD, MISSOURI, RESIDENT: Well, it really helps us get through the month, and they have a good variety of things.

ZELENY: Your husband got hurt in an accident?

OWENS: Yes, he fell between 10 and 11 feet, landing on top of his head, but it kind of changed everything. We were in the process of getting all our ducks in a row, so to speak, for retirement. And then he got hurt really bad and it just upside-downed everything. And so food pantries do that -- have helped us through the situation.

ZELENY (voice-over): Another hotly contested piece of the spending bill is deep cuts to rural hospitals. Inside a maternity ward in Clinton, Missouri, Dr. Jennifer Blair worries for her patients.

DR. JENNIFER BLAIR, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Missouri has the fourth largest number of maternity care deserts. We actually are surrounded by several maternity care deserts. That's defined as a county that has no or very limited access to obstetric services for their patients. If we were to lose that access, the birthing center here at Golden Valley, our patients would have to travel more than 60 miles.

CRAIG THOMPSON, CEO, GOLDEN VALLEY MEMORIAL HEALTHCARE: Four out of five babies that are delivered in our hospital are covered by Medicaid. And that's not unique to us. ZELENY: Craig Thompson is CEO of Golden Valley Memorial. He said many

rural hospitals in Missouri and across the country are at high risk for closure.

Is your hope for what happens over the next couple of weeks in Washington in this debate?

THOMPSON: Well, I think the thing that, again, would be beneficial is for better understanding of who Medicaid serves and what the real Medicaid face looks like because, again, I think that's been lost somewhere along the way.

ZELENY (voice-over): Courtney Leader shares that hope, too.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good girl. Oh, my goodness.

LEADER: I do not have my daughter enrolled on Medicaid so that we can have fancy things. I have my daughter enrolled in Medicaid so that we can keep her alive.

ZELENY: What are you worried about the most?

LEADER: I'm worried about the red tape is going to affect our Medicaid because of just the oversight burdens and that as a result I'm going to lose my daughter.

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WHITFIELD: Jeff Zeleny, thank you so much. We're keeping an eye on Capitol Hill as we watch for a possible vote to President Trump's sweeping agenda this hour. We'll bring that to you live. You're in the CNN Newsroom.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back. Right now, looking at live pictures of the Senate floor where lawmakers are preparing for a potential key vote to try to advance President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill.

[16:35:00]

And now, Senate Democrats are planning a major delay tactic to try to slow down the process by forcing clerks to spend an estimated 10 to maybe even 15 hours to actually read aloud the entire bill, which is more than 900 pages. We've got a team of correspondents covering today's developments.

Lauren Fox is on Capitol Hill. And we're with you along for the ride. What's happening right now or not happening?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Welcome to the Senate. Things always just take a little more time sometimes to get underway than initially expected. A lot of lawmakers at a lunch said that they expected this vote to get underway at 4:00. Obviously, we're looking at about 4:35 right now. Things are not totally underway at this point.

But you see senators mingling on the floor. You see staff getting prepared. I'm told that nothing is amiss right now. That this process is just taking a little more time to get everyone on the floor, get everyone ready to go for this vote.

But I will point out just a couple of things that we are going to watch once this vote gets underway. We expect right now that there are probably three Republican nos. Thom Tillis says that he is not voting to get onto this bill because of concerns he has about Medicaid cuts and the impact it could have on rural states like his and hospitals in his state.

Then you have people like Senator Rand Paul who are opposed to this bill because it doesn't cut enough in spending and includes a hike in the country's borrowing limit. That obviously is something that he says he cannot support. Senator Ron Johnson said earlier this morning, he was not going to be voting to getting onto this piece of legislation. So, that just gives you a sense of the three no votes we expect at this moment.

Now, there are other Republicans we are watching really closely. I'm watching Mike Lee really closely, another conservative. As well as Senator Rick Scott. I'm watching Senator Jerry Moran, who has been a little bit quieter, but has also expressed privately some of these concerns about the impact of Medicaid cuts on his state and rural hospitals there.

As well as Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has had a series of concerns on both the Medicaid cuts as well as the fact that this bill is going to shift some cost sharing to states on the federal food stamp program known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. She says that is something that could have a huge impact on her State of Alaska. Because, obviously, states right now are not covering the cost of that program. Under this bill, they would be forced to begin carrying some of that burden. For a lot of states where their budgets are already really tight, that could be a major, major issue.

So, I'm watching those members really closely. But again, we have talked about this. This process is going to drag out for at least the next day. That is because we expect that after the motion to proceed this procedural vote, if they can move on and advance this bill, then they are going to have to read more than 900 pages of this legislation, that could take between 10 and 15 hours. Then they have 20 hours of debate. We expect Republicans would likely yield back most of their 10 hours, but that gets you another 10 to 12 hours of discussion. That is before you move on to the marathon vote series, that is known as a vote-a-rama here in the United States Senate. That can go on as long as lawmakers can stand the process. All of that has to transpire before you get to a final vote. So, members are just settling in for what is going to be a really long day ahead.

WHITFIELD: Yes. A long day. And if all of those things that you just mentioned are played out, you are still now encroaching upon the holiday before any kind of vote could actually get underway. That was the president's goal, but then even he said, it's not the end all. So, some real wiggle room there.

As it pertains to the reading, I mean, people want to presume that these lawmakers are going to read 900 pages of legislation before, of voting on it. Why does it, at this point, you know, take a suggestion or motion, you know, by Democrats to say, we want there to be a full reading? Why is that not presumed that that would have taken place?

FOX: Well, typically, you wouldn't necessarily read the entire bill on the floor out loud. That is done by staff. That is not something that lawmakers are going to do. And so, obviously, that is a huge burden on Senate staff here in the chamber.

You know, there were a lot of changes that have taken place over the course of the last week. There were a lot of updates, especially to some of the tax provisions and the health provisions, some of those cuts to Medicaid overnight. So, basically, Democrats are saying that they want this bill to be read aloud to the American people so that everyone can understand.

Now, I will point out. The legislative text is dense, it's complicated, it's very hard to understand. It's not written in plain English, obviously.

WHITFIELD: It's not going to sound good to the ear.

[16:40:00]

FOX: It's written in legalese. Exactly. I don't know how many Americans are going to be tuning in to watch the reading of the bill. But ultimately, this is a delay tactic, right? It takes time. It means that it forces Republicans to think about their votes even longer before they transpire.

WHITFIELD: All right. Lauren Fox, we're going to get back to you. I think we're going to go to the White House now, right? We have Betsy Klein there. And, Betsy, what is coming from the White House right now? What's its posture as all these possible obstacles take place or procedural -- this process takes place on the Hill?

KLEIN: Well, you can believe that President Trump and his legislative team, along with Vice President J. D. Vance, are watching every twist and turn incredibly closely, but also working the phones, trying to talk and get through to some of those holdout senators. The ones that Lauren mentioned have already said they will be voting no as well as some of those who are in question, who could potentially be shifted to yes with a call from the president or the vice president there.

But we are also now hearing from Elon Musk, the president's former top aide, the head of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency, who left earlier this month. And it's hard to believe that it was just a couple of weeks ago that President Trump and Elon Musk had that epic blowout of a fight. But all of that, the root of that fight was really concerns about this bill, which Musk is now echoing yet again. He said in a post to social media just a few moments ago, quote, "The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country." He went on to say, it is utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.

So, this is clearly just a taste of some of the feedback that the president is getting from some in his own party as he tries to get this over the finish line. All of these very significant policy differences in this very big -- so-called big beautiful bill that you've got here.

But President Trump really pushing forward, making that case, intensifying pressure on these lawmakers. We saw him make that decision to scrap a planned weekend trip to New Jersey to his golf club. Instead, he spent little over six hours at his Northern Virginia golf course where we saw him hit the links with a number of Republican senators, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Senator Eric Schmidt of Missouri, as well as one of those key holdouts, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, who of course has said he has deep concerns about the debt ceiling increase that is currently included in this bill as it stands.

Now, the president also held a big event here at the White House just this past Thursday where he said that holdovers were, quote, "grandstanders and not good people." He also said that the bill would leave Medicaid the same. Of course, that is not true. There are major Medicare policy changes, including in this bill. It could result in millions of Americans losing their coverage.

But of course, the White House continuing to track every twist and turn as this goes forward. They are watching the Senate floor very, very closely right now and we will get back to you. We've also asked the vice president's office if he is indeed close by, standing by to potentially cast that tie breaking vote if needed. Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And then, you know, Betsy, just to follow up on, say that -- you know, that tweet coming from Elon Musk. I mean, given the falling out between Elon Musk and President Trump, is there a White House feeling that that tweet, is that all influential or is it just bruising?

KLEIN: I think the feeling is that this is reflective of some of these broader concerns in the party, in the Republican Party about this sweeping package. It includes a lot of things. That is why it's called the big beautiful bill. There was an opportunity earlier in the president's term to split up into multiple different kinds of legislation. The president said very emphatically that he wanted this to be one big bill.

So, we are seeing some of the consequences of that play out. But also, the opportunity for them to have one massive, massive win for this president. He has said it's really critical to unlocking his domestic policy agenda here, and they want to do this while they have Republican control of the House and Senate.

Of course, there is some very serious concern about the amount of spending and whether some of the revenue generated by the president's tariff policy is enough to offset the price tag of this bill. Fredricka. WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein at the White House. Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill. Thanks to both of you ladies. We'll check back with you as we continue to follow the action and lack thereof there on Capitol Hill. But the action is, at least, those senators that are there on this working Saturday trying to either advance the president's agenda or at least get through reading this entire 900-page bill. We'll have much more in our continuing coverage right after this.

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WHITFIELD: All right. Right now, live pictures of the U.S. Senate floor where lawmakers are preparing for a potential key vote to potentially advance President Trump's so-called big beautiful bill. And now, Senate Democrats are planning a major delay tactic to try to slow down the Senate's passage of Trump's agenda by forcing clerks to spend an estimated 10 to maybe even 15 hours reading aloud the entire 900 plus page bill.

[16:50:00]

Joining us right now, congressional reporter for the Hill, Mychael Schnell. Mychael. So, this is really just the beginning. While there was a scheduled vote at 4:00 we're now, you know, 49 minutes into the hour. And still discussions right now about whether to even proceed to procedural vote. So, what is happening?

SCHNELL: Yes. Hey, Fred. So, as you mentioned, this vote was initially meant to happen at 4:00 p.m. today to officially kick off the consideration process for this big beautiful bill. You can see right there on your screen, there are senators on the floor beginning to mill round, staff as well, signaling that folks are getting ready for this first vote.

Now, well, it looks like it's in better shape right now to pass and to get through this first procedural hurdle, it's still not final and it's still a big if. At this moment, there are three Senate Republicans who say they are planning to vote against this motion to proceed. Senator Ron Johnson, Thom Tillis and Rand Paul. Now, we remember with the current state of the Senate, Republicans can only afford to lose three votes and still get this thing over the finish line. Three defections would require Vice President J. D. Vance to come break a tie. But still, that would get them over the hump. Though there are some senators we have not yet heard from who could determine whether or not this procedural vote goes through.

Now, let's say it does, because just about an hour ago, it was looking like it would fail because Senator Tim Sheehy, as if he was planning to vote against this procedural vote, he was -- he's opposed to a provision in the bill that would force the sale of some public lands. However, after talking to leadership, he secured a vote on an amendment later on in the process to try to strip out these public lands provision, that amendment vote got him to switch his opposition to yes. So, let's say that this does get through, what do the next few hours or really days look like in. U.S. Senate? We'd have to have, A, Senate Democrats are now saying they're going to force a full reading of this bill. It's about a thousand pages. It's expected to take somewhere between a dozen hours, maybe even more. After that, we'd have general debate for this bill. Let's not forget there's the vote-a-rama, which is the very long, hours long process where senators can introduce amendments, debate them and then vote on them, another way that Democrats are planning to try to stall passage of this thing.

And then we have to wait for the final passage vote. And right now, it's not clear this has the votes for final passage. Some Senate Republicans are saying that they will vote to jumpstart the process, to proceed to debate but they're not yet sure if they're going to support the bill. So, a lot of moving parts here. We still don't know if it's certain that Senate Republicans can clear this first hurdle. But we're going to be paying attention to the floor of the Senate right there on that screen to see if we see any kind of movement within the next hour.

WHITFIELD: Right. And we know at least earlier in the week there was an expressed desire for the White House to get this done by July 4th. Then on Friday, the president said, you know, it's not the end all. It's OK if it doesn't necessarily meet a July 4th deadline. But just because of the steps that you just laid out, it already is looking like it would go past July 4th. And that's just the Senate, because whatever happens here within the Senate, even if it does kind of cross a certain finish line, it still has to make it its way back to the House, and that could be problematic for this bill.

SCHNELL: Yes, that's right. And look, I can tell you first off, we'll get the timing out of the way. Speaker Johnson, just about two hours ago convened a call with the entire House Republican conference, a private conference call to discuss the certain state of the current state of play.

On that call, Senate Majority Leader Steve Scalise told members that it's unlikely the House will return to session on Monday. It's more realistic to think about a Tuesday or Wednesday return. That's because considering the drama that's happening in the United States Senate right now, House members are not expecting that they're going to have to be back in the Capitol on Monday.

And then, as you mentioned, this thing still has to get through the House. And at the current moment, it doesn't look like it's in good shape. I've been doing reporting all morning and afternoon. Right now, I've heard from at least six House Republicans who are against this bill. If you add Thomas Massie, the Republican from Kentucky, who was one of two Republicans to vote against the House bill last month, that brings you to seven no votes.

And let's remember, in the House, Republicans can only afford to lose three votes, assuming full attendance. Democrats all vote no. So, things are going to have to change with this bill in the House. The main qualms among moderates is still that Medicaid provider tax language that a number of moderate Senate Republicans have taken issue with, it's also the rollback of a number of green energy tax credits, things like solar and wind energy, things that were included in the Democrats 2022 Inflation Reduction Act that despite it being part of a Democratic package, those provisions benefit a lot of constituents in Republican held districts.

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So, again, getting back to the initial point here, even if this thing can squeak through the Senate in its current shape, in its current form right now, it doesn't have the votes to pass the House. So, it's likely we're going to have to see some changes as it goes through the Senate or else it's going to face real headwinds in the House.

WHITFIELD: Well, even before any of those potential changes, right now, we're still waiting for that procedural vote to take place in the U.S. Senate right now before we're even seeing if it can carry on with the process of debating or discussing any kind of changes that might be needed in this big beautiful bill. Mychael Schnell, thank you so much, appreciate, and of course, to our entire team for carrying us through this hour as we continue to watch the activity there in the U.S. Senate. We'll continue to watch.

I'm Fredricka Whitfield. Thanks so much for being with me today. The news continues with Omar Jimenez right after this.

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