After a long stalemate, the Republican majority in the US Senate has narrowly passed Donald Trump’s ambitious bill on taxes and spending. This means that the proposed legislation has overcome a major obstacle in its path.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act was approved with the tie-breaking vote of Vice-President JD Vance, after over 24 hours of debate. The bill now moves on to the House of Representatives, where it is expected to face more opposition. A previous version of the bill was only passed by a single vote margin in the House.
Trump had given a deadline of July 4th for the Republican-controlled Congress to pass the final version of the bill for him to sign into law.
Vance announced the passing of the bill on Tuesday afternoon, which was met with applause from Senate Republicans while Democrats expressed their disapproval. Disagreements over the budget deficit, social programs, and spending levels had caused challenges for Republicans, causing delays and leading Trump to admit that meeting the deadline would be difficult.
Despite efforts to unite the party, Senate Majority Leader John Thune lost three Republican votes – Susan Collins from Maine, Thom Tillis from North Carolina, and Rand Paul from Kentucky – in the close vote. All three joined Democrats in voting against the bill.
After days of negotiations, Republican leaders were able to secure the support of Lisa Murkowski, a Senator from Alaska who had initially withheld her support due to concerns about the impact of Medicaid cuts in her state. However, Murkowski still expressed dissatisfaction with the bill, calling the process rushed and under an artificial timeline.
She stated, “I struggled greatly with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country,” and described the process as the most difficult and agonizing 24 hours of her career. She also expressed hope that the House would recognize that the bill is not yet satisfactory.
Murkowski’s support resulted in a 50-50 tie in the final Senate vote, prompting Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote.
Meanwhile, Trump, who was visiting a migrant detention facility in Florida, celebrated the passing of the bill, calling it “great” and stating that there is something in it for everyone. This legislation, which is considered a key part of Trump’s second-term agenda, makes permanent significant tax cuts that were initially temporary when he first took office.
In order to make up for the expected loss of revenue, Republicans have proposed cuts to various programs, including food subsidies and healthcare for low-income Americans.
The vote took place on Tuesday afternoon after a whirlwind voting session on Capitol Hill. Democrats attempted to delay the passage of the bill by putting up procedural roadblocks, such as requiring all 940 pages of the bill to be read aloud and initiating a lengthy debate process over proposed amendments in a “vote-a-rama.”
Now, it is up to House Republicans to approve the changes made by the Senate before the bill can be signed into law by the President. However, its fate remains uncertain as it faces opposition from different groups, and Republicans can only afford to lose three votes.
A group of fiscally conservative Republicans have expressed their disapproval of the bill’s potential to add $650 billion to the national deficit each year. They stated, “That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to.” Other House Republicans are concerned about the proposed cuts to Medicaid, which they believe are too steep. Democrats in both chambers of Congress have also criticized the proposed cuts to welfare programs.
The House of Representatives will be working against the President’s previously-imposed deadline of July 4th. Trump stated, “I’d love to do July 4th, but I think it’s very hard to do July 4th…I would say maybe July 4th or somewhere around there,” as he was leaving the White House for Florida.
Among the critics of the bill is tech billionaire Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s campaign and served as his cost-cutting advisor. Musk is now actively working to sabotage the bill’s chances of survival and has even threatened to form a new political party if it passes Congress. He has also threatened to back challengers to Republicans who vote for the bill.
Musk wrote on social media, “Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” The bill’s significant cuts to government support for renewable energy and electric vehicles could also negatively impact Musk’s company, Tesla.