Republican Senators voted to pass President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill” — that includes more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program over the next decade — while admitting they didn’t know some of parts of it and called it harmful.
NBC News reports some Republicans didn’t know an excise tax on wind and solar projects were in the 940-page bill:
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the Budget Committee chairman, who released the 940-page bill, said he was unsure where that provision came from.
“It’s a secret, I guess,” Graham told NBC News on Monday evening. “I don’t know where it came from.”
…Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was baffled by its initial inclusion, saying the excise tax “just came about” like it was “airdropped” into the bill before a vote Saturday to advance the legislation.
“It wasn’t part of any consideration,” she said. “It’s like, surprise! It’s Saturday night. And we looked at it like, where did this come from?”
“My view of it is — it’s just entirely punitive to the wind and solar industry,” Murkowski said, adding that the Republican-controlled Senate was “looking at different options” to deal with it.
Murkowski admitted to MSNBC the bill was harmful, but voted for it after it was changed to protect Alaska from Medicaid cuts:
Sen. Murkowski admits Trump's budget bill is harmful after she folded and voted yes on it:
— FactPost (@factpostnews) July 1, 2025
"I know that in many parts of the country, there are Americans that are not going to be advantaged by this bill" pic.twitter.com/j0I45qs3jE
(Sources: NBC News , MSNBC via Twitter/X)