Suspense mounts over passage of Trump's Big Beautiful Bill that cuts Medicare & Medicaid to thousands of citizens, raises insurance costs, and gives massive tax breaks to the rich
Suspense mounts over passing Trumps Big Beautiful Bill as Republicans scramble to muster the numbers and send it to Trump for signing on his desk before July 04 after encountering Congress with the changes.
Suspense mounted on the passage of President Trump's Big Beautiful Bill in the senate where it had advanced for discussion by a 51-49 reconciliation route avoiding the filibuster of 60 votes for introduction. Voting continued as lawmakers proposed amendments after amendments and the lengthy reading of the 940-page bill that could prove tricky for Republicans as there are several GOP holdouts including the prominent senator Thoms Tillis who opposes the bill tooth and nail.
What will I say to my 630,000 members in my constituency about the cuts in Medicaid and Medicare, he asked in the senate debate that went into the wee hours of Monday and Tuesday morning.
Senate Republicans are racing to meet Donald Trump’s self-imposed 4 July deadline to pass the president’s massive tax-and-spending “one big, beautiful bill”. In a marathon session, senators convened at the Capitol to propose amendments to the legislation over many hours.
Democrats, who unitedly oppose the bill, are expected to use the process to force their opponents into politically tricky votes that they will seek to wield against them in elections to come. Even if it passes the Senate, the bill will still need to go back through the House of Representatives, which is being called back to session for votes as soon as Wednesday.
Lisa Murkowski Senator R Alaska
Here’s the latest on what's going on:
US Senate Republicans are making a final desperate push to pass Trump’s one big, beautiful bill against united democrats and a threshold of republican holdouts. Senate's strength is 53 to 47. A six-vote majority for the Republicans.
At least three Republicans have vocally expressed their anger and opposition to the bill which cuts Medicaid and Medicare to a vast swathe of the middle class, potential voters, while giving concessions to the microscopic richer class. Seven Republicans have voiced opposition to the cuts in healthcare and are adking for mire funding to rural health programs.
How they vote finally is a question, for anyone who crosses Trump, faces a bleak future politically, because in 2017 it was GOP leading Trump , but in 2025 its Trump helming GOP.
Thom Tillis, Lisa Murkowski, Susan Collins are among Republicans who could vote with the democrats. That brings down the strength to 50 needing JD Vance to cast his tie breaking vote. But if more republicans join in cross voting, then, the fate of the bill is sealed in the senate itself. It coul DC pass only after adopting democrats and rebel holdouts amendments.
As the marathon session kicked off on Monday morning, Senate majority leader John Thune sounded optimistic that the measure would soon clear his chamber. “Let’s vote. This is good for America, this is good for the American people, it is good for working families,” he said.
Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said the bill “steals people’s healthcare, jacks up their electricity bill, takes away their jobs – all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires”. He said Democrats would offer amendments to “see once and for all if Republicans really meant all those nice things they’ve been saying about ‘strengthening Medicaid’ and ‘protecting middle-class families’, or if they were just lying”.
Republican Senator Thom Tillis said “This bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,” a few hours after announcing he would not seek re-election in politically competitive North Carolina.
Senate GOP leaders have doubled the size of the rural hospital fund sought by centrists like Sen. Susan Collins of Maine in the latest version of President Donald Trump’s agenda, according to a draft.
The fund now includes $50 billion, which would be doled out between 2026 and 2030 — going into effect two years earlier than initially expected.
The Senate’s original language would have created a $25 billion fund, which senators like Collins and Josh Hawley of Missouri said was inadequate.
House will vote tomorrow if Senate passes its version of Trump's agenda today, source says
If the Senate passes its version of President Donald Trump’s agenda today, the House is expected to vote tomorrow, according to a GOP leadership source familiar with the plans.
It’s a rapid turnaround for House lawmakers, who are currently scattered across the country for the holiday recess, but multiple GOP sources said they believed they could get it done in the House this week as well. House has 220 republican votes against 215 democrats, and here Republicans are unlikely to flip.
Both Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson have been working furiously to deliver Trump his first major legislative win this week, so the president can sign it in a special ceremony on the Fourth of July.
Senate GOP to vote soon on Trump agenda bill as Thune confirms deal with holdouts
After hours of stalemate, Senate GOP leaders are now pushing toward their final set of votes in hopes of passing President Donald Trump’s agenda out of the chamber in the next few hours.
Asked if GOP leaders had a deal to move ahead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters, “I believe we do.” He added: “I’m of Scandinavian heritage. Always a bit of a realist. So, we’ll see what happens.”
Sen. John Hoeven of North Dakota told reporters that the first vote could start in the next 15 minutes, and they expect four votes, including final passage. “There will be one amendment vote, and then there will be three votes that actually go to adopting the substitute and passage,” Hoeven said.
Hoeven said Vice President JD Vance is expected to cast a tie-break vote in his capacity as president of the Senate on several of those provisions, including the massive package of negotiated changes from Senate GOP leadership known as the “substitute” amendment.
“We’ll need him on the actual substitute bill,” Hoeven said of Vance.
The burst of movement from the Senate GOP comes after 24 hours of intense negotiating between Thune, Vance and the GOP holdouts, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who is opposing the bill in the original form.
Collins has "serious reservations" about Trump Mega bill, but she's waiting to share her vote
GOP Sen. Susan Collins said she continues to have “serious reservations” about President Donald Trump’s policy bill and is waiting to see the “direction” that the legislation takes after a record-long vote-a-rama before announcing whether she’ll vote to pass it.
“I think the push is still to get it done today, but as I’ve said from the beginning, I have a lot of serious reservations about the bill,” she told reporters Tuesday morning.
“I’m going to wait till we’re done, know what direction we’re going in before announcing my decision,” she continued.
Collins, who has expressed concern with potential Medicaid cuts in the bill, offered an amendment overnight aimed at raising more money for rural health care providers, but it failed to advance. She told reporters at the time that her amendment’s failure to advance “has absolutely no impact” on her final vote on the package.
The Maine Republican told reporters she had canceled her third scheduled flight home and was “trying to rework” her schedule as the vote-a-rama drags on.
Sen. Barrasso says Senate will vote this morning as Murkowski suggests deal is in the "copy machine"
Sen. John Barrasso speaks on the phone outside of a meeting with Senate Republicans in the US Capitol on June 28.
Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told reporters he believed the Senate would vote this morning on President Donald Trump’s agenda bill, after emerging from a closed-door meeting with key holdout Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.
When asked if the Senate planned to vote to pass the bill this morning after a marathon vote session that just passed the 24-hour mark, Barrasso said “yes,” offering the first glimpse of clarity from GOP leadership in more than a day.
Murkowski declined to comment to reporters about whether they’d made progress in negotiating her support, but she signaled that a deal could be close.
Asked if the vote was in the hands of the Senate parliamentarian, Murkowski replied:
“It’s in the hands of the people that operate the copy machine.”
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