Senate Republicans plugged away overnight and into early Saturday morning to approve their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks and spending cuts framework, hurtling past hardened Democratic opposition toward what President Donald Trump calls the “big, beautiful bill” that’s central to his agenda. The vote, 51-48, fell along mostly party lines, but with sharp dissent from two prominent GOP senators. It could not have come at a more difficult political moment.
The US economy is churning after Trump’s vast tariff scheme sent stocks plummeting, and experts are warning of soaring costs for consumers at home and threats of a potential recession. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky both voted against.
But with a nod from Trump, GOP leaders held on, determined to march ahead. Approval paves the way for Republicans, in the months ahead, to try to power a tax cut bill through both chambers of Congress over the objections of Democrats, just as they did in Trump’s first term with unified party control in Washington. “Let the voting begin,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Friday night.
The evening kicked off what’s called vote-a-rama as Democrats were intent on making the effort as politically painful as possible, with action on some two dozen amendments to the package that GOP senators will have to defend before next year’s midterm elections.
Among them were proposals to ban tax breaks for the super-wealthy, end Trump’s tariffs, clip his efforts to shrink the federal government and protect Medicaid, Social Security and other services. One, in response to the Trump national security team’s use of Signal, sought to prohibit military officials from using any commercial messaging application to transmit war plans. They all failed, though a GOP amendment to protect Medicare and Medicaid was accepted. Democrats accused Republicans of laying the groundwork for cutting key safety net programmes to help pay for more than $5 trillion tax cuts they say disproportionately benefit the rich.
“Trump’s policies are a disaster,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York, as is Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. “Republicans could snuff it out tonight, if they wanted.”
The Republicans framed their work as preventing a tax increase for most American families, arguing that unless Congress acts, the individual and estate tax cuts that Republicans passed in 2017 will expire at the end of this year.
The Senate package pulls in other GOP priorities - including $175 billion to bolster Trump’s mass deportation effort, which is running short of cash, and another $175 billion for the Pentagon to build up the military - from an earlier budget effort. Sen. John Barrasso, the No. 2 ranking GOP senator, said voters gave Republicans a mission in November, and the Senate budget plan delivers. “It fulfils our promises to secure the border, to rebuild our economy and to restore peace through strength,” Barrasso said. The framework now goes to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La, could bring it up for a vote as soon as next week as he works toward a final product by Memorial Day. The House and Senate need to resolve their differences.
The House Republicans had already approved their version, with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks over 10 years and some $2 trillion in budget cuts pointed at changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other programmes, and some have panned the Senate’s approach. Throughout the day, the debate was generally one-sided, as Democrats took full advantage of the all-night voting frenzy. Pizza was wheeled in on a cart, for Republicans. Tacos, for Democrats.
Republicans used their majority to swat back the Democrats’ amendments, often in rambunctious voice votes.
A few Democratic proposals, however, did draw some GOP support, including those to protect health care, Social Security and the bargaining rights of federal workers, a potential sign of unrest ahead.
