Senate ekes out late-night win on Trump's "big, beautiful bill"
Senate Republicans voted 51-49 late Saturday to move forward with President Trump's " big, beautiful bill" — clearing a significant hurdle and setting up a lengthy weekend to pass the legislation.
Why it matters: After days of heated debate and complaints, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is barreling forward to get Trump's priorities on taxes, the debt ceiling, border security and military funding passed by July 4.
All Republicans but Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) ultimately voted yes, making the final tally 51-49.
But GOP holdouts — notably Sens. Ron Johnson (Wisc.), Mike Lee (Utah), Rick Scott (Fla.) and Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.) — forced the vote to remain open for more than three hours while they negotiated with party leaders, including Vice President JD Vance.
Johnson told reporters on Saturday that holdouts were promised a vote on an amendment that would reduce the federal matching share for some new Medicaid enrollees. Scott has been pushing the approach.
What to watch: Democrats are forcing the entire 940-page bill to be read on the floor, a process that could take well over 10 hours.
Hours of debate, followed by a series of unlimited amendment votes, known as a vote-a-rama, will happen before final passage can take place.
Zoom in: Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) plans to offer an amendment to strike a temporary pause on states passing AI regulations.
It is likely to be adopted, given that other Republicans, including Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), also are unhappy with the measure.
Lee, as the vote was ongoing, announced he would withdraw his plan to sell off public lands to private housing developers.
Several other GOP senators, including Sens. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), opposed Lee's provision.
Between the lines: Trump ramped up pressure on Republicans on Saturday morning, circulating a statement of administration policy urging the bill's passage.
"President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal," the statement read.
Senators have been receiving phone calls, lunching and golfing with the president this weekend.
The big picture: The new text would delay implementation of a reduced Medicaid provider tax in expansion states.
It includes a compromise with the House to raise the cap on the state and local tax deduction to $40,000 for five years before reverting to the current $10,000 cap.
It would create a $25 billion rural hospital fund, bumped up from $15 billion, an attempt to assuage concerns from some Republicans that bill's Medicaid cuts would devastate rural health providers.
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