Here are the challenges facing Trump's "big, beautiful bill" in the Senate

After passing the House last week, now President Donald Trump's mega-bill has reached the Senate, where perhaps the discussion among Republicans will be even more difficult than in the House. Senators will have to agree among themselves, but it's also about agreeing on a bill constructed by representatives, who hope their Senate co-partisans won't make sweeping changes to their proposal.

President Trump played a pivotal role in the House negotiations, meeting personally with some of the "fiscal hawks" and winning their support. His role in the Senate negotiations will also be critical. He said this Monday that he is optimistic and that he knows senators will make changes to the bill but that some of those changes will likely be good ones, and he will support them.

The toughest senators

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wisconsin, has been one of the strongest critics of the bill, primarily because of the impact he believes this legislation will have on the deficit. He has openly said that if the bill is not amended, he is a "no" for sure.

"I couldn't care less if he's upset. I'm concerned about my children and grandchildren. $37 trillion in debt, and we're going to add to it? There is no way I'm going to vote for this bill in its current form," the senator said last week, referring to the president's calls for senators to support his bill.

In an interview this weekend, Sen. Johnson even called on the president, "I think we have enough to stop the process until the president gets serious about the spending reduction and reducing the deficit."

Senator Rand Paul has also joined the criticism on the need to cut spending, even calling on his fellow party members to push for a change in Trump's mega-bill: "Somebody has to stand up and yell, the emperor has no clothes, and everybody's falling in lockstep on this, pass the big beautiful bill, don't question anything. Well, conservatives do need to stand up and have their voice heard. This is a problem we've been facing for decades now, and if we don't stand up on it, I really fear the direction the country is going."

Other Republicans with doubts

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, has been speaking out for weeks about his doubts about Medicaid adjustments. However, he has not spoken about it since last week, when the bill passed the House.

In an interview with CNN a couple of weeks ago, Hawley said, “This is real Medicaid benefit cuts. I can't support that. No Republican should support that. We're the party of the working class. We need to act like it.”

Also note Senators Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, who, like Hawley, have suggested that Medicaid cuts could be a deciding factor in their vote.

Overall, the debate in the Senate is going to be complicated; even Senator Rick Scott has spoken about the need to make changes to the House-passed bill. In an interview with Charlie Kirk, he had this to say: "I’d vote no. If they brought it to the floor right now, there’s not a chance it would get to 51 votes. We all know we have to balance the budget. We all know it’s getting harder to sell our treasuries.”

On the Democratic side, already Senator Chuck Schumer warned that his party is united to vote against it, so Republicans can't afford to lose more than a couple of votes.

June will be a busy month for Republican senators, who will have to get their act together, and it will surely also be a difficult month for congressmen, who will eventually vote again once the Senate makes adjustments to their bill. Trump hopes to sign his mega-bill before July 4, which seems complicated but not impossible.

While criticism from some Republicans about the need to further cut state spending is important, it is also critical to keep in mind that the level of debt and spending the country has today has been the result of decades of bad policies, which include both parties, and that while some would like to fix the problem overnight, when it comes to economics and politics, sometimes it is better to go in stages.