--- title: Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill | TIME description: It's a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revise the package ahead of what is expected to be a similarly narrow vote in the Senate. canonical: https://time.com/video/YG1Tr4GQ/ og:title: Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill og:description: It's a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revise the package ahead of what is expected to be a similarly narrow vote in the Senate. og:url: https://time.com/video/YG1Tr4GQ/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YG1Tr4GQ/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill twitter:description: It's a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revise the package ahead of what is expected to be a similarly narrow vote in the Senate. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/YG1Tr4GQ/poster.jpg?width=720 --- * Politics # Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill [Watch (HLS stream): Republican Senators Consider Changes to Debt Limit and Medicaid in Trump's Big Bill](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/YG1Tr4GQ.m3u8) (2:33)  _Published 2025-06-03. It's a potentially tumultuous three-week sprint for senators preparing to put their own imprint on the massive Republican package that cleared the House late last month by a single vote. The senators have been meeting for weeks behind closed doors, including as they returned to Washington late Monday, to revise the package ahead of what is expected to be a similarly narrow vote in the Senate._ --- Jun 3, 2025 7:20 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [Senators Consider Amendments to Trump’s "Big, Beautiful Bill" Ahead of July 4 Deadline](/video/kbxYSBd2/) ### Senators Consider Amendments to Trump’s "Big, Beautiful Bill" Ahead of July 4 Deadline [Senator Thom Tillis Says Medicaid Cuts in Trump's Big Bill 'Break a Promise' on Health Care](/video/i5eX8guB/) ### Senator Thom Tillis Says Medicaid Cuts in Trump's Big Bill 'Break a Promise' on Health Care [Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill Limiting Governor's Powers](/video/5sVoa8FQ/) ### Wisconsin Senate Passes Bill Limiting Governor's Powers --- ## Transcript You know, I think it's one of the most important debates of our time. And this is a debate over whether or not a country can have $36 trillion in debt, whether we can have interest payments over $1 trillion. I think it's an important debate to have. I don't make it personal at all. I like the president, supported the president. In fact, I'm for the tax cuts. I am for a lot of the bill. But I can't in good conscience give up every principle that I stand for and every principle that I was elected upon, and that's that we can't accumulate more debt. $2 trillion in debt this year is too much. If you're going to borrow 5 trillion means they're going to get to that limit within the next year or two. They're planning on spending $5 trillion they don't have. And I'm just not for that. But there is a way around all of this. They could get my vote and I could vote for the package if they take out the debt ceiling and vote on that separately. It's the largest increase in the debt ceiling ever. And they will say, well, it doesn't spend any money. It's not really adding to the debt. They will get to their $5 trillion limit. The question is sooner or later, but we're giving them the ability to borrow $5 trillion more. I'm not for borrowing $5 trillion more. I'm for borrowing a smaller amount over a shorter period of time. They have promised they're going to be better at some point in time. They're going to change their ways and they're going to begin lessening spending. Uh, my biggest concern is the permanence of a lot of the tax policy pieces to say, how do we actually look at things expiring and what's the right date that they should expire? Or should they expire at all? It's a lot better for individuals and small businesses when they're planning to be able to go for capital expenses and such, that that's not going to expire in the future. So if they've got a capital expense, they've got a plan for six years from now, they can actually plan for that and not wonder what the tax policy will be when they get there. So I think that's the biggest piece that we've got to be able to resolve. There still may be things that the Senate needs to tweak. Uh, and it could include the way that Medicaid is manipulated by the states to get them more money than was originally designed under the Medicaid program. So I think the focus in the Senate is going to be whether we can adequately address our concerns about Medicaid. Uh, if we can, I think we can get, uh, the magic 50. We have to do our work in the Senate. But something always has to be in the back of everybody's minds. And that is that this bill only passed the House by one vote. And whatever changes we make, it's got to go back there for approval. Senators July 4th. Still reasonable timetable to get this to the president's desk. 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