Sen. Rand Paul says he's 'not an absolute no' on Trump's agenda bill

Sen. Rand Paul, a leading critic of the sweeping Trump agenda bill, said that he told President Donald Trump that he is "not an absolute no" on the package.

WASHINGTON — Sen. Rand Paul, a leading Republican critic of the sweeping Trump agenda bill, said during an interview on NBC News' "Meet the Press" that he told President Donald Trump that he is "not an absolute no" on the package.

"I talked to the President last evening after the parade, and we're trying to get to a better place in our conversations," said Paul, R-Ky. "And I've let him know that I'm not an absolute no."

“I don’t have as much trouble with the tax cuts. I think there should be more spending cuts, but if they want my vote, they’ll have to negotiate,” Paul said, noting he did not want to vote to raise the debt ceiling by trillions of dollars.

Republicans are working to pass the bill through a budget process called reconciliation, which allows them to pass the bill with a simple majority. Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, meaning they can only afford to lose three votes if Vice President JD Vance is brought in to break a tie.

Several Republican senators, however, have raised concerns about the bill's impact on the national debt and Medicaid, throwing the bill's future into question.