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Senate Republicans rammed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” through a procedural hurdle after hours of tense negotiations that put the megabill’s fate into question.
Speculation swirled whether Republicans would be satisfied by the latest edition of the mammoth bill, which was released just before the stroke of midnight Saturday morning.
TRUMP’S ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’ FACES REPUBLICAN FAMILY FEUD AS SENATE REVEALS ITS FINAL TEXT
President Donald Trump speaks at an event to promote his domestic policy and budget agenda in the East Room of the White House, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Nearly every Republican, except Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., all voted to unlock a marathon 20-hour debate on the bill. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., could only afford to lose three votes.
Though successful, the 51-49 party line vote was not without drama. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., flipped his vote from a ‘no’ to ‘yes’ in dramatic fashion, as he and Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., and Mike Lee, R-Utah, made their way to the Senate floor accompanied by Vice President JD Vance.
Vance was called in case he was needed for a tie-breaking vote, but only his negotiating services ended up being used.
No lawmaker wanted to be the fourth and final decisive vote to kill the bill. Republican leadership kept the floor open for nearly four hours while negotiations, first on the Senate floor and then eventually in Thune’s office, continued.
The bill won’t immediately be debated thanks to Senate Democrats’ plan to force the reading of the entire, 940-page legislative behemoth on the Senate floor – a move that could drain several hours and go deep into the night.
The megabill’s fate, and whether it could pass its first test, was murky at best after senators met behind closed doors Friday, and even during another luncheon on Saturday.
Lingering concerns in both chambers about Medicaid — specifically the Medicaid provider tax rate and the effect of direct payments to states — energy tax credits, the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and others proved to be pain points that threatened the bill’s survival.
ANXIOUS REPUBLICANS TURN TO TRUMP AMID DIVISIONS OVER ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is seen after the Senate luncheons in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll…
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