Tillis becomes third GOP senator to oppose Trump' s big, beautiful bill [View all]
Source: The Hill
06/28/25 3:07 PM ET
North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis (R) announced after a meeting with Senate GOP leaders and colleagues Saturday afternoon that he will vote “no” on both the motion to proceed and final passage of the Republican megabill to implement President Trump’s agenda because of deep cuts to federal Medicaid funding.
Tillis said he wants Senate Republican leaders to drop their plan to lower the cap on healthcare provider taxes and instead embrace the Medicaid language passed by the House last month, which would cut much less federal funding in the program.
“Oh no. The data hasn’t changed so I got to vote no,” he said. The North Carolina Republican said Senate leaders should return to “starting with the House baseline.” “I’m going to vote no on motion to proceed and on final passage,” he said.
Tillis’s strong opposition to the bill is a significant development because two other Republicans, Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ron Johnson (Wis.), have already said they will vote “no.”
Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5375176-thom-tillis-gop-senate-megabill-opposition/
The "test" (procedural) vote is basically a modified "cloture" vote which would happen before final debate and vote. The reconciliation allows the "51" for this cloture. "Concerned Collins" and "Hapless Hawley" had planned to let it go forward but with 3 others as "no" votes (SPAWN of Ron Paul, Rot Johnson, & Tillis), if there is another "no" out there (maybe Murkowsi?), they would need to make changes to get enough for a cloture.
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