Senate ekes out late-night win on Trump's "big, beautiful bill"
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune arrives for a Senate Republican policy luncheon at the U.S. Capitol on June 27. Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Senate Republicans voted 51-49 late Saturday to move forward with President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" — clearing a significant hurdle and setting up a lengthy weekend to pass the legislation.
Why it matters: After days of heated debate and complaints, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is barreling forward to get Trump's priorities on taxes, the debt ceiling, border security and military funding passed by July 4.
- All Republicans but Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) ultimately voted yes, making the final tally 51-49.
- But GOP holdouts — notably Sens. Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) — forced the vote to remain open for more than three hours while they negotiated with party leaders, including Vice President JD Vance.
- Johnson told reporters on Saturday that holdouts were promised a vote on an amendment that would reduce the federal matching share for some new Medicaid enrollees. Scott has been pushing the approach.
What to watch: Democrats are forcing the entire 940-page bill to be read on the floor, a process that could take well over 10 hours.
- Hours of debate, followed by a series of unlimited amendment votes, known as a vote-a-rama, will happen before final passage can take place.
Zoom in: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) plans to offer an amendment to strike a temporary pause on states passing AI regulations.
- It is likely to be adopted, given that other Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), also are unhappy with the measure.
- Lee, as the vote was ongoing, announced he would withdraw his plan to sell off public lands to private housing developers.
- Several other GOP senators, including Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), opposed Lee's provision.
Between the lines: Trump ramped up pressure on Republicans on Saturday morning, circulating a statement of administration policy urging the bill's passage.
- "President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal," the statement read.
- Senators have been receiving phone calls, lunching and golfing with the president this weekend.
The big picture: The new text would delay implementation of a reduced Medicaid provider tax in expansion states.
- It includes a compromise with the House to raise the cap on the state and local tax deduction to $40,000 for five years before reverting to the current $10,000 cap.
- It would create a $25 billion rural hospital fund, bumped up from $15 billion, an attempt to assuage concerns from some Republicans that the bill's Medicaid cuts would devastate rural health providers.
- It would also phase out some green energy tax credits earlier than the first version of the Senate bill.
