After the Senate slogged through a tense 24-plus hour session, Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota believes support for President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts has been secured.
It’s a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president.
Here’s the latest:
Senate Majority Leader John Thune says he believes a deal is in place to pass Trump’s bill
After more than 24 hours of voting on the floor, however, Thune added that he’s a “realist.”
Other Republicans echoed his sentiment — without sounding overly confident. GOP Sen. Markwayne Mullin said “as of right now” they had the necessary votes.
“I mean, anybody is welcome to change. You know, we’ve been changing by the minute,” said Mullin. He said “it’s been a process, but we’re in good shape.”
GOP Sen. John Hoeven added that he expects Vice President JD Vance “will be our 51st,” indicating that several Republican senators will still vote against the package and Vance will break the tie.
‘I truly don’t know what’s going to happen’
Asked Tuesday morning if Senate Republicans were close to passing Trump’s big bill, Sen. Susan Collins, a key Republican vote, said: “I truly don’t know what’s going to happen.”
“I just canceled my third flight,” Collins told The Associated Press. “I’m trying to rework my schedule.”
Asked if she’ll support the bill, Collins said she continues to have a “lot of serious reservations about the bill.”
All eyes on Alaska’s Sen. Lisa Murkowski
It’s been 24 hours since the Senate began voting on Trump’s major bill, much of that time spent rejecting Democratic amendments as Republicans work privately to secure the necessary votes to pass it.
With a 53-47 majority, Republicans can afford to lose only three votes — Vice President JD Vance holds the power to break a tie.
All eyes are on Murkowski, a Republican who’s emerged as the pivotal swing vote in the chamber. On Tuesday morning, she spent over an hour in deep conversation with fellow Republicans on the Senate floor as speculation swirled about how she might vote.
How some Republicans are looking to amend Trump’s big bill
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine had proposed bolstering the $25 billion proposed rural hospital fund to $50 billion, offset with a higher tax rate on those earning more than $25 million a year, but her amendment failed.
And Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski tried to secure provisions to spare people in her state from some food stamp cuts, which appeared to be accepted, while also working to beef up federal reimbursements to hospitals in Alaska and others states, that failed to comply with parliamentary rules.
Conservative Senate Republicans insisting on a vote on their plan for health care cuts, including Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, filed into Senate Leader John Thune’s office for a near-midnight meeting.
Senate strikes AI provision from GOP bill after uproar from the states
The proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.
The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision from the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.
Originally proposed as a 10-year ban on states doing anything to regulate AI, lawmakers later tied it to federal funding so that only states that backed off on AI regulations would be able to get subsidies for broadband internet or AI infrastructure.
Senate ‘vote-o-rama’ for Trump’s big bill already among longest-running in modern times
The all-night session has been grinding on for nearly 24 hours, having started at roughly 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
Senators have voted on more than three dozen amendments so far. More voting is likely.
The marathon voting session is part of the cumbersome process Republicans are using to try and pass the bill with a simple majority.
Republicans are letting the process drag on as they try to lock up last-minute agreements to push the bill to passage. For now, the Senate floor is at a standstill.