Senate Passes Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

Senate Republicans passed President Trump's "big, beautiful bill" Tuesday, with help from Vice President Vance as a tie-breaker.

It's a colossal achievement for Senate leadership and the White House. But the taxes, border and defense package still has to clear the House — where discontent has been building for days.

The bill passed 51-50 after a grueling, multi-day process that kicked off Saturday evening and ended with a 24-hour vote-a-rama.

GOP Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted with Democrats against the bill, requiring a tie-breaking vote from Vance.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) ended up voting for the legislation after multiple rounds of overnight negotiations. Murkowski strolled out of Senate Majority Leader John Thune's (R-S.D.) office shortly before 4am on Tuesday, without giving any indication of how she'd gotten to aye.

At the last moment, Senate GOP leaders doubled the size of a new fund aimed at improving rural health care access to $50 billion — a move aimed at securing Collins' support.

Collins earlier offered an amendment to increase the funding to $50 billion, but it was rejected 78 to 22, with most Democrats voting against it.

An amendment to remove the 10-year moratorium on state regulation of AI passed 99-1, with only Tillis voting against it.

Democrats forced votes on dozens of amendments on everything from bolstering Medicaid to gutting tax cuts for wealthy earners, all of which failed on the floor.

House lawmakers have been raising alarms about the Senate's changes, with conservatives decrying how much it would add to the deficit and moderates worried about its deeper cuts to Medicaid.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is calling House Republicans back from recess and targeting a Wednesday vote to try to meet Trump's July 4 deadline.

Johnson said in a statement after the vote that the House would "work quickly" to clear the measure, adding, "House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump's desk in time for Independence Day."

The president and Vance have been closely involved in whipping support for the bill in the Senate — and their influence will be critical to winning over concerned House members, too.

Between the lines: The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the bill would add roughly $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years.

The White House disputes the analysis, arguing it would instead decrease the deficit by over $5 trillion when combined with other growth efforts.

CBO also estimates the changes to Medicaid would result in nearly 12 million fewer people with health insurance over the next decade.

"Today, Senate Republicans betrayed the American people and covered the Senate in utter shame," Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters after the vote. "This vote will haunt Republicans for years to come."

The bill makes permanent Trump 2017 tax cuts and adds additional tax benefits — no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and no tax on social security.

It makes significant changes to the Medicaid program, including imposing work requirements and eventually lowering provider taxes from 6% to 3.5%.

It raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, and provides $175 billion for border security as well as $150 billion for defense.

It temporarily raises the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions to $40,000 before reverting to the current $10,000 cap after 5 years.

Even if the House manages to put the legislation on Trump's desk this week — Republicans have a highly skeptical public to convince.

Recent polls have shown only 23-38% of American adults and voters support the legislation.