Senate Republicans released updated text for their sweeping domestic policy bill late Friday, as leadership prepares to start voting as soon as Saturday.
Republican leaders viewed releasing the text as a key step for trying to nudge several senators, who have not yet said if they will back the bill, to come off the fence. Republicans don’t yet have the votes locked in to start debate on the bill, even as Senate Majority Leader John Thune pushes toward a vote as soon as Saturday afternoon.
While the legislation, released by Budget Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), includes updates for most committees that reflect finalized text blessed by Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, the Finance Committee language is not fully updated to reflect her rulings.
The panel’s portion of the bill includes a tax overhaul and changes to Medicaid. The tax-writing panel had final meetings with MacDonough on Friday night but is not expected to release fully revised text overnight.
Alaska and Hawaii could be temporarily exempted from paying for some costs of the nation’s largest anti-hunger program after last-minute negotiating from lawmakers, according to Senate Republicans’ new megabill text.
The new text grants the Agriculture secretary authority to waive the two states’ cost-share requirement for up to two years if they are “actively implementing” a plan to lower their payment error rates, which is what will be used to calculate how much of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program states will need to fund.
Alaska’s SNAP error rate was over 60 percent and Hawaii’s was over 20 percent as of fiscal year 2023, which is the latest available data. Alaska’s two Republican senators, Lisa Murkowski and Dan Sullivan, have spent the past several weeks pushing their colleagues to provide an exception for their state.