Senate Republicans pass Trump's sweeping policy bill, clearing major hurdle

The Guardian

20 hours ago

Senate Republicans on Tuesday passed a major tax and spending bill demanded by Donald Trump, ending weeks of negotiations over the comprehensive legislation and putting it another step closer to enactment.
But it remains unclear if changes made by the chamber will be accepted by the House of Representatives, which approved an initial draft of the legislation last month by a single vote. While Republicans control both house of Congress, factionalism in the lower chamber is particularly intense, with rightwing fiscal hardliners demanding deep spending cuts, moderates wary of dismantling safety net programs and Republicans from Democratic-led states expected to make a stand on a contentious tax provision. Any one of these groups could potentially derail the bill's passage through a chamber where the GOP can lose no more than three votes.
The bill's passage is nonetheless an accomplishment for Senate Republicans who faced their own divisions in getting it passed , and saw one lawmaker announce their retirement after clashing with Trump over the bill. The push to get the legislation done intensified on Saturday when the chamber voted to begin debate, then continued with amendment votes that began on Monday and stretched all night.
The vote for passage came just after noon on Tuesday, and required Vice-President JD Vance to break a tie that resulted after three Republicans joined with all Democrats in voting against it.
In a joint statement, Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Republican leadership said: 'Republicans were elected to do exactly what this bill achieves: secure the border, make tax cuts permanent, unleash American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, cut wasteful spending, and return to a government that puts Americans first. This bill is President Trump's agenda, and we are making it law.'
Senate majority leader John Thune said Republican senators and staff began laying the groundwork for this budget bill more than a year ago, planning how they would extend tax breaks if they had the votes. He said: 'Since we took office in January, Republicans have been laser-focused on achieving the bill before us today. And now we're here, passing legislation that will permanently extend tax relief for hard-working Americans.'
The lower chamber is set to take up the measure on Wednesday, ahead of a deadline Trump has imposed to have it on his desk by Friday, the Independence Day holiday. But the president has recently made comments indicating the bill could arrive later, saying at a press conference on Friday 'we can go longer,' before writing on Truth Social that 'the House of Representatives must be ready to send it to my desk before July 4th'.
Trump has described the bill as crucial to his presidency, and congressional Republicans made it their top priority. It will extend tax cuts enacted during the president's first term in 2017, and includes new provisions to cut taxes on tips, overtime and interest payments for some car loans. It funds Trump's plans for mass deportations by allocating $45bn for Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities, $14bn for deportation operations and billions of dollars more to hire an additional 10,000 new agents by 2029. It also includes more than $50bn for the construction of new border fortifications, which will probably include a wall along the border with Mexico.
To satisfy demands from fiscal conservatives for cuts to America's large federal budget deficit, the bill imposes new work requirements on enrollees of Medicaid, which provides healthcare to low income and disabled Americans. It also imposes a limit on the provider tax states use to fund their program, which could lead to reductions in services. Finally, it sunsets some incentives for green energy technologies created by Congress under Joe Biden.
Nonetheless, the bill would add $3.3tn to the UD budget deficit through 2034, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonprofit focused on fiscal responsibility, called the bill 'a failure of responsible governing' because it will add to the federal debt and includes budget gimmicks that disguise how much debt it is adding. The group estimated it would add more than $4tn to the national debt through 2034, and if some 'arbitrary expirations' are made permanent, that would add $5.4tn.
'The Senate reconciliation bill fails almost every test of fiscal responsibility,' said Maya MacGuineas, the group's president. 'Instead of worrying about arbitrary deadlines or sparing the Senate another vote-a-rama, fiscal conservatives should stand up for what's right and reject the Senate plan to explode our debt.'
While it was formally titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the Senate's Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer managed to get the name stricken minutes before the vote for passage, though that is not expected to change how many lawmakers refer to it. Because it was passed using the budget reconciliation procedure that requires legislation only affect spending, revenue and the debt limit, Democrats were unable to use the filibuster to block its passage in the Senate.
Schumer called the bill a 'big, ugly betrayal', pointing to the millions who will lose health insurance, job losses and debt increase done in favor of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporate special interests. He also decried the process Republicans used to pass the bill, saying they pushed the rules and norms of the chamber in a way that did 'grave damage' to the body.
'Today's vote will haunt our Republican colleagues for years to come as the American people see the damage that is done – as hospitals close, as people are laid off, as costs go up, as the debt increases. They will see what our colleagues have done and they will remember it, and we Democrats will make sure they remember it.'
In the lead-up to the bill's passage, several moderate Republicans signaled unease with its cuts to the social safety net, including North Carolina's Thom Tillis. After saying on Saturday he would not vote for the bill, Trump publicly attacked him, and the senator announced he would not run for re-election next year, potentially improving Democrats' chances of picking up the purple state's seat.
'It is inescapable this bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,' Tillis said on Sunday. Pointing to a forecast that the bill would cost 663,000 North Carolinians their Medicaid coverage, Tillis said: 'What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there any more, guys?'
In addition to Tillis, Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against passage, criticizing the bill's impact on the budget deficit and national debt. Susan Collins, who is expected to face a fierce re-election challenge next year from Democrats for her seat in Maine, also opposed it, saying the measure would 'threaten not only Mainers' access to healthcare, but also the very existence of several of our state's rural hospitals'.
The Alaska moderate Lisa Murkowski has expressed similar concerns about its impact on Medicaid, but ended up voting for passage.
Now that the legislation is back in the House, Johnson faces a difficult task in getting the Senate's changes cleared by his conference's competing factions.
Moderates remains concerned about the safety net cuts , while rightwing Republicans have railed against the bill's expensive price tag. Last week, David Valadao, a Republican congressman whose central California district has one of the highest Medicaid enrollment rates in the nation, said he would not support the measure over its funding changes to the program.
On Monday, ahead of the bill's passage, the Democratic National Committee announced the launch an organizing campaign to capitalize on the unpopularity of the budget plan's provisions. Ken Martin, the chair of the DNC, shared in a press briefing that his family relied on the kinds of safety net programs that are being cut when he was growing up.
Martin said in a statement on Tuesday that the bill helps billionaires at the expense of American families – the sort of messaging the party will rely on as it hits the road to turn out voters for the midterms and special elections.
'It's a massive scheme to steal from working folks, struggling families, and hell, even from nursing homes – all to enrich the already rich with a tax giveaway,' Martin said. 'Billionaires don't need more help, working families do. Democrats will stand shoulder to shoulder with working families to kick these Republicans out of their seats in 2026.'
The rightwing House Freedom Caucus has also criticized the bill for its price tag. 'The Senate must make major changes and should at least be in the ballpark of compliance with the agreed upon House budget framework. Republicans must do better,' they wrote on Monday, as amendments were being considered.
In a Tuesday press conference, House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries said the bill represents the 'largest cut to Medicaid in American history'. He expects his caucus will uniformly oppose the bill and will be making the case to vote it down in the rules committee and on the House floor.
When asked if House Democrats would use any procedural moves to delay passage of the bill, Jeffries said: 'All procedural and legislative options are on the table.'