The Republican Senate Tuesday narrowly passed President Trump’s controversial Big Beautiful Bill after a marathon debate, clearing another hurdle toward a major political win for the White House.
After slogging through a brutal 28-hour marathon session, senators voted 50-50 for Trump’s sprawling package of tax and spending cuts, with three GOP lawmakers breaking ranks to vote against the bill one called “political suicide.”
Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote to keep the plan on track to become law in coming days.
Three Republicans voted against the bill: Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-North Carolina), who dramatically announced on Sunday that he won’t run for reelection.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted for the bill after winning a string of concessions and specific goodies for her state.
The bill now goes back to the House of Representatives, which passed a different version of it last month. Some fiscal hawks vowed to force changes to reduce the expected $3.3 trillion cost while moderates hope to soften draconian cuts to Medicaid.
But Trump is still pushing for Congress to get the bill to his desk by a July Fourth deadline, a major achievement given the narrow GOP edges in both houses of Congress.
The 940-page bill has all but consumed Congress as its shared priority with Trump.
Polls say the bill is widely unpopular as Americans fear they could lose health benefits to fund tax cuts for the rich.
“Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said.
A new analysis from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office found 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill becomes law. The CBO said the package would increase the deficit by nearly $3.3 trillion over the decade.
All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.
The Senate package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.
Additionally, the bill would provide a $350 billion infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.
