Several Republicans have broken with their party and voted for Democratic amendments are part of a marathon series of votes Friday night.
None of the Democratic amendments have passed, but Democrats went into the vote series, known as a vote-a-rama, with the goal of putting GOP lawmakers in a bind on tough issues.
The amendment votes are happening as part of the leadup to the Senate passing a budget resolution early Saturday morning. The resolution will serve as a blueprint to draft a bill containing President Trump’s top domestic priorities.
In the opening batch of amendment, Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) broke with the GOP to back Democratic proposals.
Collins and Murkowski voted alongside each other on four of the amendments, all brought forward by Democrats. The proposals were aimed at protecting government employees’ ability to collectively bargain amid attacks by the Trump administration, preventing cuts to food stamps and to show support for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Ukraine, respectively.
Collins was also joined by Hawley on a separate amendment aimed at protecting benefits for Medicaid enrollees.
All three failed by similar margins.
Hawley has been an outspoken backer of Medicaid as a significant number of his constituents rely on the program. He has an amendment set to be considered later in the vote-a-rama aimed at nixing the instruction for the House Energy and Commerce Committee that experts say would result in a cut of nearly $900 billion to Medicaid.Â
Democrats are using the opportunity to put Republicans on the record on myriad issues that could give them political headaches, including on President Trump’s expansive tariffs that sent Wall Street spiraling in recent days, Social Security and the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) attempted hollowing out of numerous departments and agencies.
