WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Senate on Saturday night advanced a sweeping domestic policy package for President Donald Trump’s agenda after a dramatic hours-long vote, moving it one step closer to passage.
The vote was 51-49, with two Republicans — Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky— joining all Democrats in opposition.
Saturday’s procedural vote was delayed for hours as party leaders scrambled to resolve internal disputes. And it hung on a knife’s edge for more than three hours on the floor, as a handful Republicans — Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming — withheld their votes. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other GOP leaders were ultimately able to win them over, teeing up a vote on final passage in the coming days.
Vice President JD Vance also traveled to the Capitol Saturday evening in case his vote was needed to break a 50-50 tie. But Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., who initially opposed the motion to proceed, ended up switching his vote.
“We’ve been working to deliver on our promise of a safer, stronger, and more prosperous America. Now we have the opportunity to pass a bill that advances all of these priorities and sets our country up for better days ahead,” Thune said on the floor. “We’ve worked hard on this, and now it’s time to deliver.”
Republicans are racing to pass the 940-page bill, which was released overnight and includes tax cuts, a funding boost for immigration enforcement and Medicaid cuts, among other provisions, by a self-imposed deadline of July 4.
There will now be up to 20 hours of debate before a process in which senators can offer unlimited amendments. And Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., forced a reading of the entire bill on the floor of the chamber, which began Saturday night and will add hours to the process.
Paul criticized the legislation for adding to the debt, calling it “much more of a spending bill than a bill that rectifies the debt problem.”
Tillis, who faces a tough re-election battle next year, has slammed the Medicaid cuts as damaging to his state, saying he “cannot support this bill in its current form.”
“It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities,” he said in a statement. “This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population.”
Trump attacked Tillis on Truth Social after his vote, saying he planned to meet with potential primary challengers to the GOP senator.
“Thom Tillis is making a BIG MISTAKE for America, and the Wonderful People of North Carolina!” Trump wrote.
He also went after Paul: “Did Rand Paul Vote ‘NO’ again tonight? What’s wrong with this guy???”
Despite Saturday’s vote, it remains unclear if the Senate, where Republicans have a 53-47 majority, will ultimately have the votes needed to pass the bill.
Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters she would vote “yes” to begin debate, but that she’d file several amendments to the measure, and is “leaning against” it on final passage unless it is substantially revised. Among the revisions she wants is to allow taxes on the highest earners to go up, a proposal that her GOP Senate colleagues are guaranteed to reject.
The legislation would extend the tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017 and slash taxes on tips and overtime pay. It includes a $150 billion boost to military spending this year, along with a surge of federal money to carry out Trump’s mass deportations and immigration enforcement agenda. It partially pays for that with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy funding.
The bill would add about $4 trillion to the national debt over the next 10 years when factoring in higher interest payments, according to an analysis published Saturday by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a think tank that supports lower deficits.
It also contains a $5 trillion increase in the debt ceiling ahead of an August deadline to avert a default on the country’s obligations.
The GOP package also prohibits Medicaid funding for entities that provide abortions, including Planned Parenthood, seeking to make good on a long-standing conservative priority. That pursuit has faced opposition in the past from Collins and Murkowski, though it’s unclear it will stop them from backing it this time. Their offices didn’t return messages seeking comment.
Democrats called the legislation a tax cut for the rich, paid for by cutting federal programs for working class Americans.
“What did Republicans do in the dead of night last night? They made their bill even worse than any draft we have seen,” Schumer said. “Worse on health care. Worse on SNAP. Worse on the deficit. All to cater to the radicals in the House and Senate.”
Republicans are seeking to pass the bill through the budget reconciliation process, which allows them to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold as long as certain parameters are met. The House, which passed its own version in May, would also need to pass the Senate bill before it heads to Trump’s desk.
Trump, who changed his plans and stayed in Washington this weekend, has already been heavily engaged in the whip effort. He has been calling senators and hosting some for meetings at the White House. On Saturday, he golfed with Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., Eric Schmitt, R-Mo., and Paul at his golf club in Virginia.
“It’s me, Trump and Rand Paul. No casualties. We beat the evil duo of Eric Schmitt and [CIA Director] John Ratcliffe. It was a big upset,” Graham joked, describing the golf outing. “Trump played really well on the back, but there’s a bonding experience from playing golf.”
The Senate legislation seeks to resolve a standoff over the state and local tax (SALT) deduction. It lifts an existing $10,000 cap to $40,000 for five years — down from a decade in the House-passed version — before lowering it back to $10,000. That represents a significant concession for blue-state House Republicans who had insisted on solidifying the higher cap.
But it faced immediate opposition from Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., who told NBC News in a statement: “While I support the President’s broader agenda, it would be hypocritical for me to back the same unfair $10k SALT cap I’ve spent years criticizing.”
And the Medicaid language faces opposition from swing-district Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., who threatened Saturday to vote against the Senate version in its current form.
The bill seeks to mitigate the pain of its Medicaid cuts on some providers by creating a rural hospital fund worth $25 billion over five years. It includes work requirements and other new rules for recipients to qualify for coverage under the program.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he’s “going to vote yes on this bill” after some last-minute changes to the Medicaid provider tax that he said are good for Missouri. Still, he said he has reservations.
“This has been an unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid. And I think, frankly, my party needs to do some soul searching. If you want to be a working-class party, you’ve got to deliver for working-class people,” Hawley said. “You cannot take away health care from working people. And unless this is changed going forward, that is what will happen in coming years. So I’m going to do everything I can to stop that.”
