🚨🚨 Senate passes Trump tax and spending cuts mega-bill
"Big beautiful bill" passes Senate after overnight drama
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WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump’s sweeping “big, beautiful bill,” aimed at advancing key parts of his agenda, passed in the Senate on Tuesday early afternoon following days of uncertainty and high drama. The outcome sets the stage for a showdown in the House, where GOP leaders are racing to win over skeptical members and meet their initial self-imposed July 4 deadline for passage.
Three senators voted against the measure following a marathon session that kept the Senate in session for more than 24 hours. Vice President J.D. Vance arrived at the Capitol early Tuesday morning, having to step in as the tie-breaking vote. The bill aims to address tax cuts, border security, and energy reforms, and would also raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
All eyes were on Sen. Lisa Murkowski, whose support remained unclear up until the final moments, with leadership heavily pressing the Alaska Republican to get on board with the bill after the parliamentarian ruled proposed SNAP carve-outs for her state were not compliant with the Byrd Rule.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) announced around 10 a.m. that he believed a deal had been struck with Murkowski — which entailed doubling funding for rural hospitals from $25 billion to $50 billion, delaying SNAP work requirements in certain states, and dropping an excise tax on wind and solar as an incentive to vote for it — as lawmakers appeared increasingly irritated by the lengthy session.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) bucked party lines, citing concerns with the deficit, referring to it as “fiscally irresponsible” — a move applauded by former Trump ally-turned-critic Elon Musk, who has spent days railing against the legislation.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — who announced his retirement following attacks from the president over his reservatrions over the bill — voted it down.
House Republican lawmakers have voiced strong resistance to the Senate’s version, with both moderates concerned about its changes to Medicaid language and conservatives alarmed by its impact on the debt and deficit, vowing to vote against it.
“We hoped they’d improve our SNAP, IRA and pension language, but leave along our Medicaid. Instead, we’ve gone backwards in all. The House will have very hard time passing this,” one lawmaker told 24Sight.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has attempted to quell concerns, having held a call with the moderate Republican Main Street Caucus on Monday, where he said he would push the upper chamber to move closer to the House-passed bill. But it’s unclear whether pressure from the White House and leadership will be enough to get it over the finish line by their Friday goal.
Multiple House GOP lawmakers have stated they feel the bill should be conferenced between the two chambers, which would extend the process.
Johnson previously confirmed to 24sight News that he would like to see a second reconciliation bill to address members’ remaining concerns — which could be a heavier lift with one GOP lawmaker slated to leave Congress early.
House members have been notified they should plan to return to Washington on Wednesday, with the House Rules Committee scheduled to meet on Tuesday to prepare to bring the Senate legislation to the floor.
Trump has since indicated that the deadline may be pushed back, telling ABC News: ““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.”
Check back here shortly for a full writethrough of what’s in the Senate version of the sweeping legislation and what’s up next in the House.
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