Donald Trump convened congressional leaders and cabinet secretaries at the White House on Thursday to make the case for passage of his marquee tax-and-spending bill, but it remains to be seen whether his pep talk will resolve a developing logjam that could threaten its passage through the Senate.

The president’s intervention comes as the Senate majority leader, John Thune, mulls an initial vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on Friday, before a 4 July deadline Trump has imposed to have the legislation ready for his signature.

But it is unclear whether Republicans have the votes to pass it through Congress’s upper chamber, and whether any changes the Senate makes will pass muster in the House of Representatives, where the Republican majority passed the bill last month by a single vote and which may have to vote again on a revised version of the bill.

Trump stood before an assembly composed of police and fire officers, working parents and the mother and father of a woman he said died at the hands of an undocumented immigrant to argue that Americans like them would benefit from the bill, which includes new tax cuts and the extension of lower rates enacted during his first term, as well as an infusion of funds for immigration enforcement.

“There are hundreds of things here. It’s so good,” he said. But he made no mention of his desire to sign the legislation by next Friday – the US Independence Day holiday – instead encouraging his audience to contact their lawmakers to get the bill over the finish line.

“If you can, call your senators, call your congressmen. We have to get the vote,” he said.

Democrats have dubbed the bill the “big, ugly betrayal”, and railed against its potential cut to Medicaid, the federal healthcare program for low-income and disabled people. The legislation would impose the biggest funding cut to Medicaid since it was created in 1965, and cost an estimated 16 million people their insurance.

It would also slash funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), which helps Americans afford food.

Republicans intend to circumvent the filibuster in the Senate by using the budget reconciliation procedure, under which they can pass legislation with just a majority vote, provided it only affects spending, revenue and the debt limit. But on Thursday, Democrats on the Senate budget committee announced that the parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, had ruled that a change to taxes that states use to pay for Medicaid was not allowed under the rules of reconciliation.

That could further raise the cost of the bill, which the bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation recently estimated would add a massive $4.2tn to the US budget deficit over 10 years. Such a high cost may be unpalatable to rightwing lawmakers in the House, who are demanding aggressive spending cuts, but the more immediate concern for the GOP lies in the Senate, where several moderate lawmakers still have not said they are a yes vote on the bill.

“I don’t think anybody believes the current text is final, so I don’t believe anybody would vote for it in it’s current form. We [have] got a lot of things that we’re working on,” the senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a top target of Democrats in next year’s midterm elections, told CNN on Wednesday.

In an interview with the Guardian last week, the Alaska senator Lisa Murkowski declined to say how she would vote on the bill, instead describing it as “a work in progress” and arguing that the Senate should “not necessarily tie ourselves to an arbitrary date to just get there as quickly as we can”.

Democrats took credit for MacDonough’s ruling on the Medicaid tax, with the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, saying the party “successfully fought a noxious provision that would’ve decimated America’s healthcare system and hurt millions of Americans. This win saves hundreds of billions of dollars for Americans to get healthcare, rather than funding tax cuts to billionaires.”

Democratic lawmakers, led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), are scrutinizing the lobbying efforts of two energy companies aimed at securing a $1.1 billion tax loophole in the reconciliation mega-bill.

What Happened: On Thursday, Warren, along with Senators Sheldon Whitehouse, Ron Wyden, and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), sent letters to ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP) and Ovintiv seeking clarification on their role in the proposed tax change, reported The Guardian. The letter, addressed to ConocoPhillips CEO Ryan Lance and Ovintiv CEO Brendan McCracken, questions the amount spent on lobbying and potential tax reductions if the provision is finalized.

Warren criticized the proposal, stating, “It’s an insult to working people to give oil companies a massive tax handout while slashing healthcare and raising energy prices for millions of families.”

Senate Republicans have proposed an exemption to President Biden’s 2022 corporate tax law that would allow fossil fuel companies to deduct drilling costs, potentially eliminating their tax liability. The move, backed by major industry players like ConocoPhillips and Ovintiv, targets the 15% minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations under the Inflation Reduction Act.

The proposed tax break is viewed as especially troubling, given that other measures in the draft reconciliation bill could result in higher utility bills and job losses.

Meanwhile, Schumer said, “Republicans would rather kill over 800,000 good-paying jobs and send energy costs skyrocketing than stand up to their big oil billionaire buddies.”

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Why It Matters: The senators’ letters come amid a larger debate on the proposed tax breaks and their potential impact. Earlier this week, Warren criticized a provision in President Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” that offers Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) a massive tax break, saying the benefits far outweigh what ordinary Americans could ever contribute.

Furthermore, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has been vocal in his opposition to the GOP’s budget reconciliation bill, dubbed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” for its extensive cutbacks on welfare, alongside tax breaks for the wealthy. Schumer has called the bill “flawed” and “irredeemable”, stating that it will kick millions off healthcare and kill good-paying energy jobs while taking food away from children.

Meanwhile, President Donald Trump has been pushing the Senate to pass his ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ bill before the July 4 deadline.

On a year to date basis, shares of ConocoPhillips tumbled 9.18%, as per Benzinga Pro.

Image via Shutterstock

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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Scotiabank Downgrades AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) Stock to Sector Perform

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Shares of CVS Health Corp (NYSE:CVS) are trading higher Thursday afternoon. The stock is rising as a Republican legislative package targeting major tax and healthcare changes faces a considerable obstacle in the U.S. Senate.

What To Know: According to a report from USA TODAY, the Senate’s parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled on June 26 that several key provisions aimed at overhauling Medicaid could not be included in the bill under the Senate’s budget reconciliation rules.

The provisions, which included work requirements and restrictions for non-citizens, were designed to reduce federal spending on the health insurance program for lower-income families.

The ruling is being viewed as a major blow to the bill’s prospects as Democrats celebrated the decision. “Democrats fought and won, striking health care cuts from this bill that would hurt Americans walking on an economic tightrope,” Senator Ron Wyden told USA TODAY.

Read Also: Donald Trump Jr. Joins Mark Cuban In Slamming Elizabeth Warren on Healthcare Pricing

Why This Matters: This legislative setback is likely causing CVS stock to rise because a significant portion of the company’s revenue is tied to the stability of the American healthcare system, including programs like Medicaid.

The proposed cuts to Medicaid, had they been successful, could have resulted in millions of Americans losing their health insurance coverage. This would directly translate to fewer prescriptions being filled at CVS pharmacies and a reduction in the number of members in the Aetna health insurance plans it owns.

By blocking these cuts, the immediate threat to this substantial revenue stream is removed, providing investors with greater confidence in CVS’s future earnings and financial stability.

Price Action: According to data from Benzinga Pro, CVS shares are trading higher by 1.9% to $67.62 Thursday afternoon. The stock has a 52-week high of $72.51 and a 52-week low of $43.56.

Read Also: UnitedHealth, CVS Among Major Insurers To Fast-Track Prior Authorizations: Will It Cut Profits Even More?

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Besides going to a brokerage platform to purchase a share – or fractional share – of stock, you can also gain access to shares either by buying an exchange traded fund (ETF) that holds the stock itself, or by allocating yourself to a strategy in your 401(k) that would seek to acquire shares in a mutual fund or other instrument.

For example, in CVS Health’s case, it is in the Health Care sector. An ETF will likely hold shares in many liquid and large companies that help track that sector, allowing an investor to gain exposure to the trends within that segment.

Image: Shutterstock

Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) is one of the 10 Unstoppable Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. On June 24, Goldman Sachs downgraded the company’s stock to “Neutral” from “Buy” with a price objective of $116, an increase from the prior target of $115. The firm cited valuation for this downgrade following a robust recovery in Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)’s stock. Also, the firm believes that a significant competitive environment can impact its same-store sales. It highlighted the ongoing investment needs in stores, together with supply chain infrastructure.

Goldman Sachs Downgrades Dollar General (DG) Stock

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As per analyst Kate McShane, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG)’s management team worked hard in a bid to improve its positioning via the “Back to Basics” program. This resulted in better comp trends as well as improved margins. While the analyst believes that Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) still has room for margin improvement in the long term, the stock is pricing in its better fundamentals, added Kate McShane.

In Q1 2025, the company’s net sales rose 5.3% to $10.4 billion as compared to $9.9 billion in Q1 2024. This rise was because of positive sales contributions from new stores and growth in same-store sales, partially mitigated by the impact of store closures. For FY 2025, Dollar General Corporation (NYSE:DG) expects net sales growth of ~3.7% – 4.7% as compared to the previous expectation of ~3.4% to 4.4%. Artisan Partners, an investment management company, released its Q1 2025 investor letter. Here is what the fund said: