'Can't accept that': GOP senators may toss out key Trump campaign promises in his big bill

11 June

U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) speaks with reporters after a vote in the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., June 3, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon

The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate is preparing to make its own changes to President Donald Trump's massive domestic policy legislation, and some of those tweaks may include scrapping some of Trump's biggest 2024 campaign promises.

According to a Wednesday report in the New York Times, GOP lawmakers in the upper chamber of Congress are making new efforts to pay for the trillions of dollars in tax cuts included in the bill (which are overwhelmingly tilted in favor of the wealthiest Americans). One provision Senate Republicans may axe in order to offset those tax cuts is Trump's proposal to not tax overtime hours — something he made a hallmark of his third bid for the presidency.

“I think it all comes down to what we’ve got to pay for,” Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), who is up for reelection next year, told the Times. “At the end of the day, we’ve got to pay for pro-growth policies.”

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) was also unsure about Trump's "no tax on tips" proposal, saying he wasn't getting concrete answers to questions like: "How many years did they go? At what level do they stop?" Even staunch conservatives in the Senate aren't shy about completely revamping the bill that the House of Representatives sent over last month. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) defended the idea of having a "markedly different" bill than what the House narrowly passed by a 215-214 margin.

"It’s the Senate, so the Senate is going to do what it damn well wants to do, and that’s a good process," Cruz said.

Despite having a 53-47 majority, Senate Republicans can only afford to lose three members of their own conference if they hope to pass it with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance. This means objections from senators like Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) over the bill's significant size may mean the legislation has to be broken up into multiple bills — something that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has also suggested. Johnson is proposing that the "one big beautiful bill" be pared down to tax cuts and spending cuts, and moving other items to separate pieces of legislation.

"You can’t do it in one fell swoop. I don’t want to criticize what has been done; I want to support what’s been done,” Johnson said. “But I absolutely — I can’t accept that this is the new norm. We need another bite of the apple in this Congress.”

Click here to read the Times' report in full (subscription required).

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