Trump looks to rally Republicans as Senate takes up his 'big, beautiful bill'

Congress is back in session, and President Donald Trump has wasted no time lobbying lawmakers to pass his "big, beautiful bill" in the Senate.

House Republicans narrowly passed reconciliation by a 215-214 vote in May after weeks of negotiations that crescendoed with Trump's appearance on Capitol Hill to rein in remaining holdouts. After a dramatic saga on the House side, the bill was sent to the Senate, where it will inevitably be rewritten and returned to the House.

The Senate is now back in session with the hopes of sending the bill back by the July 4 deadline, but trouble is already beginning to emerge in the upper chamber.

'So many false statements are being made about 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL.'

RELATED: The senators to watch in reconciliation’s next battle

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Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri was one of the first senators to draw a red line with respect to reconciliation. Hawley has repeatedly said that any cuts to Medicaid make him a "no" vote on the landmark legislation and has said the president backs his position.

"So many false statements are being made about 'THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,' but what nobody understands is that it's the single biggest Spending Cut in History, by far!" Trump said Monday. "But there will be NO CUTS to Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid.

"The only 'cutting' we will do is for Waste, Fraud, and Abuse, something that should have been done by the Incompetent, Radical Left Democrats for the last four years, but wasn’t," Trump added.

Although there haven't been any direct cuts to the program, House conservatives fought for amendments to the Medicaid work requirements that would weed out bad actors and ensure that only those eligible receive the benefits. These work requirements were integral in gaining support from fiscal conservatives, and any attempt to roll them back may cost Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) some votes.

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Fiscal conservatives on the Senate side are also giving Trump a hard time, particularly Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Trump has likened Paul to Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky in public and in private, noting their refusal to vote for other spending bills in the past. Massie was one of the two "no" votes on the bill in the House, and Paul is expected to vote against it in the Senate.

"The math doesn't add up," Paul said Tuesday. "I'm not supporting a bill that increases the debt by $5T. I refuse to support maintaining Biden spending levels."

"Rand votes NO on everything, but never has any practical or constructive ideas," Trump said Tuesday. "His ideas are actually crazy (losers!). The people of Kentucky can’t stand him. This is a BIG GROWTH BILL!"

RELATED: Spending hawks dig their heels in as White House battles to keep 'big, beautiful bill' afloat

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With reconciliation talks back in full swing on the Senate side, Trump has been keeping Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) at arm's length.

Thune can afford to lose only three votes on the bill due to the 53-seat majority Republicans secured in November. Thune has reiterated his goal to find more savings and to permanently extend the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act just as Trump has asked for, and he is pushing for the July 4 deadline.

"When the American people elected [Trump] and a Republican Congress last November, they expected us to deliver," Thune said Tuesday. "We’ve worked hard to deliver on our mandate, and we are not taking our foot off the gas."

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