Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Clears Key Senate Hurdle

The GOP-led Senate narrowly advanced on Saturday night the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” championed by President Donald Trump.

By a 51-49 vote, the upper chamber passed a motion to proceed, ending an hours-long standoff on the legislation that features many of Trump’s spending and tax priorities.

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) flipped from a “no” to a “yes” in the final moments as Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) cast their votes in support of pressing ahead.

All the Democrats, the independents who caucus with them, and Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) voted against the motion.

Vice President JD Vance had travelled to the U.S. Capitol to be a tiebreaker, but he was not ultimately needed to cast a vote.

While Senate Republicans are trying to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline to get the bill to his desk, Democrats are employing tactics that will slow down the process.

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After the procedural vote concluded on Saturday night, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) immediately asked for a reading of the legislation, which is more than 900 pages long and will likely take over 10 hours to get through.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) noted on X that further steps lie ahead.

“Remember: we still have to read the bill on the floor, hold up to 20 hrs of debate, and ‘vote-a-rama’ where we’ll wear the libs down on amendment votes. Then, House passage. Busy weekend,” he said.

The Republican-controlled House already passed a version of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” a little more than a month ago, however the Senate has made some changes.

Ultimately both chambers will have to agree on a final version. Because the legislation is being considered through the reconciliation process, the Senate can bypass the filibuster and pass the measure with a simple majority.

Lee voted to move the bill forward after he announced the withdrawal of his provision to sell off public lands, which had irked some other GOP senators from Western states.

Earlier, Trump criticized Tillis after the North Carolina Republican voted against proceeding with the bill while objecting to Medicaid cuts. Trump later asked what is “wrong” with Paul, who has raised debt-related concerns about the bill.