By Eric Garcia Joe Sommerlad and Oliver O’Connell
Here鈥檚 the latest dispatch from Eric Garcia on Capitol Hill, who is no doubt screaming for a cup of coffee by this point:
Republicans are basically locked in a standstill as they plan to pass President Donald Trump鈥檚 鈥淥ne Big, Beautiful Bill Act.鈥 On paper, they should have the votes: Republicans have 53 seats and they want to pass the bill through the arcane process known as budget reconciliation, which allows them to avoid a filibuster.
But they face a quandry. After the provision to shore up rural hospitals by Susan Collins failed, she seems to be in the 鈥淣o鈥 column. That puts Republicans in a bind: Either they appease Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the moderate Alaska Republican, which would amount to massive carve-outs to their bill, or Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian Republican from Kentucky.
In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, Murkowski’s fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan and former majority leader Mitch McConnell cornered Murkowski in the back of the chamber.
Call it the Denali Deal: as part of the bargain, Alaska and a handful of other states would be exempt from the bill鈥檚 provision that requires states to shoulder a larger share of the cost for administering the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.
Politico reported that the Parliamentarian cleared this part of the bill in the early hours of the morning. In addition, another part of the bill raises the amount that Alaska whaling captains can write off from $10,000 to $50,000 as charitable contributions.
But there is one final sticking point: a provision that would allow for Alaska to receive a higher federal matching rate. Republicans are hoping that they can get a revised version of the amendment through the Byrd Rule, which determines what is germane to the budget.
The alternative is to simply deal with Paul, who has objected to the debt limit increase in the bill. But this would force Republicans to work with the Democrats, which they always wanted to avoid.
Ultimately, Thune and the Republicans have to determine their price: dealing with the Democrats or a massive bribe to one Alaskan with an independent streak.