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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s tax cut and spending bill came down to the wire as Senate Republican leaders scrambled to get all GOP members on board before the final vote Tuesday.

In the end, three long-serving GOP members, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted against, forcing Vice President JD Vance to break a 50-50 tie.

Each of the three has explained their reasons for bucking the president.

Susan Collins

One of the mostly closely watched as the vote neared was Collins, who had been on the fence due to the bill’s proposed Medicaid cuts.

“Approximately 400,000 Mainers – nearly a third of the state’s population – depend on this program,” she said in a statement after voting no. “A dramatic reduction in future Medicaid funding, an estimated $5.9 billion in Maine over the next 10 years, could threaten not only Mainers’ access to health care, but also the very existence of several of our state’s rural hospitals.”

Collins added that the bill had “additional problems.”

“The tax credits that energy entrepreneurs have relied on should have been gradually phased out so as not to waste the work that has already been put into these innovative new projects and prevent them from being completed,” she said.

Thom Tillis

Tillis has been extremely vocal in his opposition sine the weekend, drawing attention for a passionate floor speech citing Medicaid provisions he claimed would hurt his North Carolina constituents.

During a closed-door GOP conference meeting two weeks ago, Tillis is reported to have made the point that Medicaid coverage for more than 600,000 North Carolinians would be at risk under the Senate’s proposal and asked his colleagues to consider how the policy would affect their own states — even providing state-specific data on a handout.

“I just encouraged other members to go to their states and just measure how … take a look at the proposed cuts and tell me whether or not you can absorb it in the normal course of business, and in many cases, you’re gonna find that you can’t,” Tillis told reporters at the Capitol last week.

Trump lashed out against Tillis on his social media platform and to the press and threatened to field primary challengers. Tillis announced on Saturday that he would not seek reelection.

Rand Paul

Paul, a staunch advocate for keeping spending and the debt ceiling in check, posted on X that he wanted the bill to include a 90% reduction in the ceiling.

“No earmarks. No handouts. Just real fiscal reform. I wasn’t looking for favors. I wasn’t horse-trading. I was fighting for the American people and against our out-of-control debt,” he said.

“Bottom line: I offered my vote for fiscal sanity. Congress chose to sell out taxpayers instead. Only once the bill is released, we will know what the true price was,” Paul added.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would like to see facilities like the new so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center in Florida‘s Everglades in other states.

“Well, I think would like to see them in many states. Really, many states,” the president said. “And, you know, at some point, they might morph into a system.”

The Trump administration is turning the remote Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into a facility that officials say will eventually hold up to 5,000 people. Officials say operations will start on Tuesday. The facility is part of Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations by expanding detention capacity. The president has already sent migrants to Guantánamo Bay and the mega-prison in El Salvador.

Asked by ABC News’ Mary Bruce if the new center could be a new standard for immigration facilities in the U.S. despite criticism for its harsh conditions, Trump said, “It can be.”

“I mean, you don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much but I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be. This is a very important thing,” he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s visit would be a chance for the president to tout the funding for more detention facilities and efforts to enact Trump’s mass deportation policy that are in his megabill that the Senate could vote on Tuesday before sending to the House before Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.

“I think his trip to this detention facility actually underscores the need to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill because we need more detention facilities across the country,” Leavitt said.

A source familiar with the planning tells ABC it will cost Florida $450 million a year, and officials say some of that money will be reimbursed from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program.

Leavitt described the facility’s remote location in her briefing on Monday.

“There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,” she said. “It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens.”

“This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history,” Leavitt added.

When asked about the remote and dangerous location, Leavitt said that it was a feature of the facility to help prevent detainees from escaping.

“Well look, when you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said. “We do know that some of these illegal criminals have escaped from other detention facilities, like one in New Jersey, which I know was recently reported on. So, of course, we want to keep the American people safe, and we want to remove these public safety threats from our streets, and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that the facility is a “one stop shop” to carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda, claiming the location saves money on security since it’s surrounded by dangerous animals.

“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” Uthmeier posted.

Among officials who will join Trump at the facility are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Congressman Byron Donalds.

In a statement released Monday, Noem said, “Alligator Alcatraz, and other facilities like it, will give us the capability to lock up some of the worst scumbags who entered our country under the previous administration. We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida. Make America safe again.”

DeSantis touted the facility last week as “as safe and secure as you can be.”

Environmental groups are suing to stop construction, alleging the government violated the Endangered Species Act by building on protected land.

Protesters gathered along the highway that cuts through the Everglades to demonstrate on Saturday. They included environmental activists and Native Americans advocating for their ancestral homelands. Others demonstrated against the treatment of migrants.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Senate voted 50-50 on Trump’s megabill. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to pass the massive tax and immigration bill.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump touring the new “Alligator Alcatraz” migrant detention center in Florida‘s Everglades on Tuesday.

The Trump administration is turning the remote Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport into a facility that officials say will eventually hold up to 5,000 people. Officials say operations will start on Tuesday. The facility is part of Trump’s efforts to ramp up deportations by expanding detention capacity. The president has already sent migrants to Guantánamo Bay and the mega-prison in El Salvador.

Asked by ABC News’ Mary Bruce if the center could be a new standard for immigration facilities in the U.S. despite criticism for its harsh conditions, Trump said, “It can be.”

“I mean, you don’t always have land so beautiful and so secure. They have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops that are in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much but I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. It will keep people where they’re supposed to be. This is a very important thing,” he said.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump’s visit would be a chance for the president to tout the funding for more detention facilities and efforts to enact Trump’s mass deportation policy that are in his megabill that the Senate could vote on Tuesday before sending to the House before Trump’s Fourth of July deadline.

“I think his trip to this detention facility actually underscores the need to pass the One Big, Beautiful Bill because we need more detention facilities across the country,” Leavitt said.

A source familiar with the planning tells ABC it will cost Florida $450 million a year, and officials say some of that money will be reimbursed from FEMA’s Shelter and Services Program.

Leavitt described the facility’s remote location in her briefing on Monday.

“There’s only one road leading in, and the only way out is a one-way flight,” she said. “It is isolated and surrounded by dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain. The facility will have up to 5,000 beds to house, process and deport criminal illegal aliens.”

“This is an efficient and low-cost way to help carry out the largest mass deportation campaign in American history,” Leavitt added.

When asked about the remote and dangerous location, Leavitt said that it was a feature of the facility to help prevent detainees from escaping.

“Well look, when you have illegal murderers and rapists and heinous criminals in a detention facility surrounded by alligators, yes, I do think that’s a deterrent for them to try to escape,” she said. “We do know that some of these illegal criminals have escaped from other detention facilities, like one in New Jersey, which I know was recently reported on. So, of course, we want to keep the American people safe, and we want to remove these public safety threats from our streets, and we want to effectively detain them as best as we can.”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier posted on X that the facility is a “one stop shop” to carry out Trump’s mass deportation agenda, claiming the location saves money on security since it’s surrounded by dangerous animals.

“You don’t need to invest that much in the perimeter. People get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go, nowhere to hide,” Uthmeier posted.

Among officials who will join Trump at the facility are Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Florida Congressman Byron Donalds.

In a statement released Monday, Noem said, “Alligator Alcatraz, and other facilities like it, will give us the capability to lock up some of the worst scumbags who entered our country under the previous administration. We will expand facilities and bed space in just days, thanks to our partnership with Florida. Make America safe again.”

DeSantis touted the facility last week as “as safe and secure as you can be.”

Environmental groups are suing to stop construction, alleging the government violated the Endangered Species Act by building on protected land.

Protesters gathered along the highway that cuts through the Everglades to demonstrate on Saturday. They included environmental activists and Native Americans advocating for their ancestral homelands. Others demonstrated against the treatment of migrants.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump told reporters Tuesday his administration will “have to take a look” at deporting Elon Musk after the billionaire reignited the feud with the president over his spending bill.

Musk, a South African national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, made several weekend X posts slamming Republicans over the “Big Beautiful Bill,” arguing that it was adding more debt.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!,” Musk posted Monday afternoon.

Trump pushed back with a Truth Social post early Tuesday claiming Musk was upset about the bill eliminating the electric vehicle mandate and that “Elon would have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa.”

When asked by reporters later in the morning if he would deport Musk, Trump said, “We’ll have to take a look.”

“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” he said.

Musk posted his response to Trump’s Tuesday morning comments on X.

“So tempting to escalate this. So, so tempting. But I will refrain for now,” Musk wrote.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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