WASHINGTON—As the Senate begins an all-night session on Sunday, Republicans are battling President Donald Trump’s massive tax break and spending reduction plan against growing Democratic resistance and even some brake-pumping over the president’s own budget cuts.
The outcome of the Senate’s work over the weekend is still very unpredictable. GOP leaders are scrambling to pass the package by Trump’s Fourth of July deadline, but in a heated scene the day before, they hardly managed to garner enough support to push it past a procedural obstacle. It required phone calls from Trump and a visit from Vice President JD Vance to keep it on course after a few Republican holdouts rebelled.
After being pressed by Trump for stating that he could not support the bill due to its drastic Medicaid cuts, Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina declared on Sunday that he will not run for reelection. According to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which was then nonpartisan, if the measure were to become law, 11.8 million more Americans would lack health insurance by 2034. Additionally, it stated that over the course of ten years, the plan would raise the deficit by almost $3.3 trillion.
However, other Republicans in the Senate and conservatives in the House are calling for more drastic cuts, especially in the health care sector, after receiving an unexpected warning from Trump.
Don’t lose your mind! Social media posts were made by the president. Remember that you need to be reelected.
Overall, the Senate bill includes almost $4 trillion in tax cuts, including the new ones Trump campaigned on, such tip tax exemptions, and permanentizing the rates from 2017, which will expire at the end of the year if Congress does not act.
The Senate measure would eliminate billions in green energy tax credits, which Democrats say will eliminate wind and solar investments across the country. It would also inflict $1.2 trillion in cutbacks, mostly to food stamps and Medicaid, by tightening eligibility rules and implementing work requirements.
The package would also fund $350 billion for border and national security, including deportations, with some of that money coming from new fees that immigrants would have to pay.
The bill would have to go back to the House if the Senate could pass it through overnight vote.Lawmakers have been instructed by Speaker Mike Johnson to be ready to return to Washington next week.
Democrats are prepared to battle through the night.
As the minority party in Congress, the Democrats are unable to halt the 940-page bill’s progress and are utilizing all of their resources to prolong and postpone the process.
Democrats compelled the document to be read in its entirety, which took almost 16 hours and ended on Sunday afternoon. Then, with Republicans mostly stepping aside, senators took up the debate and filled the chamber with speeches.
“Impetuous and careless,” Michigan Senator Gary Peters remarked. “A present to the billionaire class,” Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders stated.
Sen. Patty Murray, the Appropriations Committee’s ranking Democrat, expressed particular concern about the Republicans’ accounting approach, which maintains that the tax breaks from Trump’s first term in 2017 are now standard practice and that the expense of extending them shouldn’t be included in deficit calculations.
According to Murray, the longest-serving Democrat on the Budget Committee, “things have never worked this way in my 33 years here in the United States Senate.”
According to her, Americans attempting to balance their own home budgets won’t accept that sort of mystical math.
“Go back home and try that game with your constituents,” she replied. People who have too pricey health care still need to be kicked off. In order to save expenses, we still need to close certain hospitals. Additionally, because the debt is out of control, we still have to remove people from SNAP.
Sanders claimed that Tillis’ choice to not run for reelection demonstrates the influence Trump’s cult of personality has on the Republican Party.
Sanders claimed that while providing tax incentives to Jeff Bezos and other rich billionaires, we are really removing food from the mouths of poor children.
GOP leaders are unfazed
Despite a string of political and policy failures, Republicans have shown no signs of giving up and are leveraging their majorities to push aside Democratic opposition.
“The ‘Big, beautiful bill’ will be passed,” stated Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who chairs the Budget Committee. Additionally, President Trump will sign it.
Given their slim majorities, the recalcitrant Republicans are still unwilling to cast ballots, and their leaders are practically at a loss for options. In essence, assuming every member is present and voting, they can afford three dissidents in the Senate, which has a 53-47 GOP advantage, and roughly the same number in the House.
Trump maintained the pressure on lawmakers to complete, even if he occasionally gave them leeway in his timeline.
He threatened to run against Tillis, who was concerned that his state’s Medicaid cuts would deprive many people of access to healthcare. On Sunday morning, Trump persecuted Tillis once more, accusing the senator of harming the wonderful people of North Carolina.
In a long statement later on Sunday, Tillis declared he would not run for reelection in 2026.
Democrats can stall but not filibuster.
Instead of needing 60 votes to overcome opposition, the Republicans may force the package through the Senate with a simple majority vote by using a congressional procedure known as budget reconciliation.
Democrats have found alternative ways to voice their concerns in the absence of the filibuster.
The first is reading the entire legislative language, which has been done before. Additionally, Democrats plan to utilize the entire ten hours of debating time that is currently available.
Then, depending on the hour, Democrats are ready to put out dozens of amendments to the package that would be discussed during an all-night or all-day vote session.
Watch the GOP senators
Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, was the focus of intense conversation among GOP leaders as Saturday’s vote count teetered. She cast a yes vote.
The package has a number of clauses specifically tailored to her state of Alaska.
Holdouts Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Mike Lee of Utah, and Rick Scott of Florida were summoned to Majority Leader John Thune’s office shortly after. Vance added his voice. The conversations continued.
Vance then ushered everyone back in to cast their votes.
“We all want to get to yes,” Scott added after claiming to have met with the president.
“We had an internal discussion about the strategy to achieve more savings and more deficit reduction, and I feel good about the direction where this is going, and more to come,” Lee said of the group.
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This report was written by Michelle L. Price, Fatima Hussein, and Ali Swenson of the Associated Press.
