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The $3.3 trillion legislation survived a brief GOP revolt over the weekend to allow the Senate to move forward with debate on the measure, but its final passage is far from certain.
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Senate Republicans can afford to lose no more than three of their own votes on the bill, but two already are opposed and others remained undecided.
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Senate lawmakers are debating President Trump's 940-page so-called big, beautiful bill as Republicans race to meet a Trump-imposed July 4 deadline and are set to vote on key amendments. Senate Republicans have deepened the cuts to Medicaid while cutting taxes for the wealthy and increasing the national deficit. "Basically, you have Republicans taking food and medicine and other things away from vulnerable people in order to finance tax cuts for the rich," says David Dayen, executive editor of The American Prospect.
Dr. Adam Gaffney, a critical care physician and professor at Harvard Medical School, co-authored a report that found the bill could lead to 1.3 million Americans going without medications, 1.2 million Americans being saddled with medical debt, 380,000 women going without mammograms, and over 16,500 deaths annually. "I work in the ICU. I see patients with life-threatening complications of untreated illness because they didn't get care because they couldn't afford it. What happens when we add to that number massively?" says Gaffney.
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New official estimates showed the bill would swell deficits while slashing health programs and insurance coverage, posing potential problems as the legislation moved forward in the Senate.
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