When Donald Trump’s sweeping policy bill arrived in the Senate in late May, its problems seemed unending.
It was Trump’s top legislative priority, and crafted in such a way that Democrats could not block it by using the filibuster. But it was greeted with skepticism by moderate Republicans, who blanched at the bill’s cuts to two major safety net programs to offset expensive outlays elsewhere: tens of billions of dollars to fund mass deportations and build border walls, along with tax-cut extensions and new deductions that could increase the budget deficit by trillions of dollars over the coming decade.
