'Wasn't going to make a difference': Senate leader's advice to holdout revealed

Senate Republican Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) lamented after the Tuesday budget bill vote that his job is difficult. However, when it comes to Democrats criticizing the GOP for heavy cuts to Medicaid, he said it didn't matter.

Punchbowl News' John Bresnahan reported that Thune and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) had been going back and forth about what a horrible impact the "big, beautiful bill" would have on the midterm elections. Thune said that he tried to convey to Tillis that it wouldn't matter because once they start touching entitlement programs, Democrats will attack them regardless.

“We’re pregnant with that issue,” Thune said. “At the end of the day, it wasn’t going to make a lot of difference whether we’ve adopted a House provision or a Senate provision… Those attacks are coming.”

Thune also told reporters that his work on the bill has “been incredibly complicated — the most complicated thing I’ve ever tried to do."

Tillis is one of three Republicans who voted against the bill, despite enormous pressure from President Donald Trump. Instead of folding to Trump, however, Tillis announced his retirement and said he wouldn't run for reelection in 2026.

See the thread here.