Trump admin updates: Trump says tariff letters to be sent to 'various countries' on Monday

Democrats are using Monday's "vote-a-rama" to highlight cuts they say President Trump's megabill will make to Medicaid, SNAP and rural hospitals -- and to hammer in the tax cuts they say this bill gives to the wealthiest Americans. So far, Republicans have defeated all Democratic efforts to modify or reconsider the bill.

The Senate voted down 47-53 an amendment led by Minority Leader Chuck Schumer that he said would have undone "the travesty that is at the core of the Republican bill."

"Their bill -- the so-called big beautiful bill, which is really a big, ugly betrayal -- cuts taxes for billionaires by taking away health care for millions of people. So what my amendment simply says -- if people's health care costs go up, the billionaire tax cuts vanish," Schumer said.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo, a Republican, argued against Schumer's amendment, saying he incorrectly framed what the bill does.

"The reality is, the reforms we are putting into place are to try to reign in control of wasteful and fraudulent and abusive spending that actually diverts resources away from the people who these programs really deserve to receive," Crapo said.

Democratic Sen. Ed Markey's effort to strip provisions that he said would negatively impact rural hospitals due to cuts to Medicaid also failed, but did receive the support of two Republicans: Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, the top Democrat on the Senate Agriculture committee, argued that the SNAP provisions in the bill create "chaos for state budgets and hardship for families" and violate budget rules. Her motion was waived by Republicans.

"The largest unfunded mandate is on the back of kids and veterans and seniors and people with disabilities," Klobuchar said. "It's hurting local grocery stores, it's hurting our farmers and it's all done to pay for tax cuts to the wealthy. I say to our colleagues: vote for families over billionaires."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin

President Trump sent a handwritten note to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell calling on him to lower interest rates, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during Monday's briefing.

Leavitt held up the note to reporters, which appeared to have been written by Trump using his signature black Sharpie.

"I bring to you original correspondence from the president of the United States to our Fed Chair, Jerome Powell," she said. The paper included a list of interest rates from other nations, including Japan and the United Kingdom, which are lower than that of the U.S.

A note written on top of the chart read, "Jerome, you are, as usual, 'too late.' You have cost the USA a fortune and continue to do so. You should lower the rate - by a lot! Hundreds of billions of dollars are being lost! No inflation."

"I would remind the Fed chair, and I would remind the entire world that this is a president who was a businessman first, and he knows what he is doing," Leavitt said. "He has a proven economic formula that worked in his first term as president, and it is working again. The one problem that remains is high interest rates for the American people. The American people want to borrow money cheaply, and they should be able to do that. But unfortunately, we have interest rates that are still too high. So, the president sent this note to the Fed chair today."

The White House had a message for Republicans on Monday as lawmakers rush to try to pass President Trump's megabill before his July 4 deadline.

"Republicans need to stay tough and unified during the home stretch, and we are counting on them to get the job done," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters at her briefing.

Leavitt was asked about the bill's prospects in the House, which will have to sign off on the Senate changes. There is currently little room for error in either chamber for Republicans -- Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford three defections if all members are present and voting.

"We need the full weight of the Republican conference to get behind this bill and we expect them to, and we are confident they will," Leavitt said.

"The president has been working hand in hand with Senate Majority Leader Thune and also our House Republican Leader, or the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, both of whom will be at the White House today to meet with the president yet again. I believe they were here this morning," she added.

The Senate gaveled in on Monday morning to begin a "vote-a-rama" on amendments proposed to President Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the chamber's top Democrat, said his party "will bring one amendment after the other again and again and again to put Republicans on the record."

"Mr. President, today Senate Republicans have to decide: choose the American people or bow down to President Trump and his coterie of billionaires," Schumer said in remarks on the floor. He later added, "Every senator will soon have an opportunity to reject this nonsense and vote for commonsense budgeting. Americans will be watching."

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a Republican, defended the legislation as bringing tax cuts to American families and argued government programs like Medicaid are in need of reform.

"Mr. President, it's time to vote," Thune said. Thune added on Trump's bill, "This, Mr. President, will make this country safer, stronger and more prosperous."