Ugly GOP rift over ‘big, beautiful bill’ puts passage in doubt

Republicans in the U.S. Senate are struggling to cobble together the 50 votes needed to advance President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” tax and spending bill, putting their July 4 deadline for passage in jeopardy.

Even if the Senate can push a version of the measure forward in the coming days, its changes to the bill are already causing heartburn among House members. For the legislation to pass, the House must vote to approve the amended version.

U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is among more than a dozen lawmakers who voted for the bill previously but aren’t happy with how the legislation is developing in the Senate. The Rome Republican’s main concern is a clause that would prohibit states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade.

She said she would never have voted for the bill if she knew that language was inside its more than 1,000 pages and she is disappointed the Senate hasn’t taken it out.

She and many other conservatives are also seething that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough flagged many of their cost-cutting measures as out of compliance with that chamber’s strict reconciliation rules. MacDonough struck several provisions, including those related to reducing the cost of Medicaid and food assistance programs.

The parliamentarian ruled Thursday that the portion of the bill that would create new limitations on states’ usage of a provider tax on hospitals to draw down more Medicaid funding does not adhere to procedural rules. If that cost-saving provision is taken out of the reconciliation bill, it is likely to result in the measure having a bigger impact on the national deficit.

“I love President Trump and I really want to vote to pass his agenda in the Big Beautiful Bill when it comes back to the House from the Senate, but between the far-left Senate parliamentarian stripping out many of our good provisions and the special interest lobbyists sneaking in dirty poison pills like 10-year state moratoriums on AI, I’m currently a NO,” Greene wrote on X Thursday.

U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Athens, is likely to have something to say about the bill now that the parliamentarian has ruled that the elimination of regulations on silencers and certain types firearms cannot remain. Clyde, a gun store owner, pushed to add the provision to the bill prior to its initial passage in the House.

Meanwhile, Trump employed campaign-style stagecraft on Thursday to pressure Congress to pass the legislation. He delivered a speech at the White House with a diverse group of several dozen Americans who would benefit from the bill standing behind him.

He highlighted the bill’s inclusion of immigration enforcement funding, no taxes on tips and other tax cuts he said would benefit working-class people — all popular proposals with Republicans in both chambers. The divisiveness is largely over deficit reductions and mitigation of some spending reductions and cuts to federal programs and tax incentives.

Things to know

Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Credit: Mark Schiefelbein/AP

Good morning! Here are four things to know today:

Social media law ruling

Credit: TNS

Credit: TNS

A federal judge on Thursday blocked a Georgia law that seeks to limit minors’ access to some online services.

U.S. District Judge Amy Totenberg’s ruling means that Senate Bill 351, which would require children under age 16 to have a parent’s permission to create social media accounts, will not take effect on July 1.

The lawsuit was brought by NetChoice, a trade group representing social media giants and other online businesses that argued the measure violates free speech rights.

When the bill passed last year, advocates said the legislation was needed to protect minors from cyberbullying and to address rising concerns about the adverse effects of social media on teens’ mental health.

The law would impose fines of up to $2,500 on companies that fail to make reasonable efforts to confirm users are 16 or older. And it would require school districts to teach students about the risks of social media.

Totenberg’s order blocks the law from taking effect until there’s a full ruling on the issue. But she signaled in her 50-page decision that the state may have a tough time pressing its case.

She wrote that Georgia has the authority to help children and parents understand the detriments of social media and engage with the internet in a healthier way, but that the law fails to do so.

“Instead, the Act curbs the speech rights of Georgia’s youth while imposing an immense, potentially intrusive burden on all Georgians who wish to engage in the most central computerized public fora of the twenty-first century,” she wrote.

Lucky numbers

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

Credit: Jason Getz/AJC

The Republican primary for Public Service Commission wasn’t close, but election officials across Georgia are auditing it anyway, the AJC’s Mark Niesse reports.

The audit kicked off with a dice roll at the Georgia Capitol on Wednesday to create a random 20-digit number that was used to pick a sample of ballots to audit. The audit reviews ballots by hand and checks the human count against the machine count.

Members of the audience and state election officials took turns rolling 10-sided dice to make the number. Gabriel Sterling, chief operating officer for the secretary of state’s office, was among dice-rollers.

“Georgia is a leader in audits. We do this very often, better and better, more and more,” Sterling said. “And we do it to prove publicly we’re the safest, most accurate election system in the United States of America.”

Election audits have become commonplace since Georgia’s 2020 vote, when all 5.3 million ballots were counted by hand.

This time, the audit focuses on a much smaller sample of the 63,340 votes cast in the PSC District 2 Republican primary, where incumbent Tim Echols easily defeated challenger Lee Muns. Echols will face Democrat Alicia Johnson in November’s general election.

A runoff in the Democratic primary for PSC District 3 between Keisha Sean Waites and Peter Hubbard will be held July 15. The winner will meet Republican incumbent Fitz Johnson in November.

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Today in Washington

Lawmaker security

Credit: Galen Fletcher/The New York Times

Credit: Galen Fletcher/The New York Times

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson and his counterpart, Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, usually find themselves on opposite sides of hot-button issues. But after a meeting Thursday to talk about recent politically motivated attacks on lawmakers and ongoing concerns about keeping members of Congress safe, they agreed to adopt new policies to protect themselves and fellow legislators.

“We had a very productive meeting and recognize the urgency of acting quickly, decisively and in a bipartisan manner to ensure the safety and security of all Members and their families,” the two said in a joint statement.

They tasked the Republican chairman of the House Administration Committee and the top Democrat on the committee to lead the effort. The move could involve additional funding for members to install or upgrade security equipment at their homes and offices and for more law enforcement officers to protect them at public appearances.

Correction

Yesterday’s newsletter should have said that U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop is a top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee.

Shoutouts

Credit: Courtesy photo

Credit: Courtesy photo

Birthdays

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Before you go

Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

Credit: Greg Bluestein/AJC

The renovation of Georgia’s House and Senate chambers is well underway, with dozens of workers toiling to make sure the rooms are ready when lawmakers return in January. Right now, it’s definitely a work in progress.

That’ll do it for us today. As always, you can send your best scoops, gossip and insider info to greg.bluestein@ajc.com, tia.mitchell@ajc.com, patricia.murphy@ajc.com and adam.vanbrimmer@ajc.com.

AJC reporter Adam Van Brimmer contributed to this report.