GOP support for Trump agenda in limbo as Senate barrels toward weekend vote

Senate Republicans are barreling toward a critical vote on President Donald Trump’s agenda on Saturday, with GOP leaders pressuring their members to support a bill that has yet to be fully drafted.

President Donald Trump’s push to pass his massive agenda in the Senate is hanging by thread as GOP leaders barrel toward a critical vote this weekend that, as of Friday night, is still short of the support to pass. Just hours after Senate Majority Leader John Thune informed senators they would take a critical first vote on Saturday, a key GOP centrist senator warned he would vote against proceeding to the package unless there are major changes – and several other holdouts are uncertain on how they’ll land. That warning shot came from Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican who is up for reelection next November and has been one of the most vocal critics of the Medicaid cuts used to help pay for Trump’s tax cuts and spending cuts package. Speaking to reporters Friday, Tillis again raised concerns over the bill’s “fundamentals” and cuts to Medicaid and suggested his vote wouldn’t change unless the measure “transforms radically overnight.” Losing Tillis on Saturday’s expected procedural vote – which will be closely watched by Trump – would be a major blow to Senate GOP leaders, who can only afford to lose three Republican votes to advance the bill. Thune and GOP leaders have spent months building to this moment, racing to draft the bill as quickly as possible in an effort to ensure Trump’s agenda is on his desk by the Fourth of July.