In a dramatic overnight showdown that tested Republican unity, the Senate narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s sprawling tax and spending plan early Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote in a deadlocked 50-50 chamber.
The legislation, once dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” before Democrats forced a name change, marks Trump’s most ambitious fiscal overhaul to date. The 887-page bill now returns to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson has scheduled a Wednesday vote and pledged to deliver it to the president by July 4.
“In the end we got the job done,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who had worked tirelessly through a grueling weekend to hold his caucus together amid dissent from within.
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Three Republicans, Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul, joined every Democrat in opposition. Tillis cited deep concerns about Medicaid cuts, while Paul objected to the bill’s $5 trillion debt ceiling hike.
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The legislation includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, locking in Trump’s 2017 tax rates and adding new ones, like eliminating taxes on tips that he campaigned on. But it also imposes $1.2 trillion in cuts, mostly to Medicaid and food stamps, through stricter eligibility rules and new work requirements for able-bodied adults.
The package would slash billions in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn could devastate the clean energy sector. It also allocates $350 billion to bolster border and national security, some of it funded by immigrant processing fees, and introduces sharp changes to federal reimbursement structures.
What began as a day of standard amendment votes rapidly spiraled into chaos, with leaders racing to salvage support. Scenes of weary lawmakers and frantic backroom huddles dominated the Capitol overnight, as GOP leaders tried to balance demands from moderates wary of healthcare cuts with hardliners pushing for deeper reductions.
Murkowski and Collins emerged as pivotal swing votes. Murkowski, who called the process “agonizing,” secured limited food stamp protections for Alaska but failed to boost Medicaid reimbursements. She ultimately voted yes. Collins, meanwhile, saw her proposed rural hospital fund inserted into the bill after her amendment was rejected, but still cast a no vote. “My difficulties with the bill go far beyond that,” she explained.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that 11.8 million more Americans could lose health coverage by 2034 under the legislation and warned it would add $3.3 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade.
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Democratic leaders were scathing. “Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular,” said Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk added fuel to the fire, slamming the bill and warning he would campaign against any lawmakers who supported it. Trump himself had pressured GOP holdouts, and Tillis, under fire for his resistance, announced over the weekend that he would not seek reelection.
Despite the infighting, Republicans are staking their legislative credibility on the bill’s success, eager to prove they can govern with control of Congress and the White House.
Trump, speaking before boarding Air Force One, tried to soften the bill’s harshest optics: “I don’t want to go too crazy with cuts,” he said according to AP’s report. “I don’t like cuts.”
But for Democrats, the damage is already done. Sen. Patty Murray blasted Republicans for what she called “magic math”, a budget strategy that counts Trump’s past tax breaks as “current policy” to downplay their fiscal impact.
“That kind of ‘magic math’ won’t fly with Americans trying to balance their own household books,” she said.
