Trump's Tax Breaks and Spending Cuts Bill Passes Senate

Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of margins, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.

The outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol, the president's signature legislative priority teetering on the edge of approval or collapse. In the end that tally was 50-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

Three Republican senators - Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky - joined all Democrats in voting against it.

"The big not so beautiful bill has passed," Paul said after the vote.

The difficulty it took for Republicans to wrestle the bill to this point is not expected to let up. The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to deviate too far from what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems as they race to finish by Trump's Fourth of July deadline.

Trump acknowledged it's "very complicated stuff," as he departed the White House for Florida.

"I don't want to go too crazy with cuts," he said. "I don't like cuts."

What started as a routine but laborious day of amendment voting, in a process called vote-a-rama, spiraled into a round-the-clock slog as Republican leaders were buying time to shore up support.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota was desperately reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill's reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care, and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said "Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular."

“I don’t want to go too crazy with cuts,” he said. “I don’t like cuts.”

“The big not so beautiful bill has passed,” Paul said after the vote.

The GOP leaders have no room to spare, with narrow majorities. Thune could lose no more than three Republican senators, and two — Tillis, who warned that millions of people will lose access to Medicaid health care, and Paul, who opposes raising the debt limit by $5 trillion — had already indicated opposition.

“The big not so beautiful bill has passed,” Paul said after the vote.

The package now goes back to the House, where Speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to deviate too far from what his chamber had already approved. But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems as they race to finish by Trump's Fourth of July deadline.

All told, the Senate bill includes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, according to the latest CBO analysis, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire at the end of the year if Congress fails to act, while adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no taxes on tips.

The package would roll back billions of dollars in green energy tax credits, which Democrats warn will wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide. It would impose $1.2 trillion in cuts, largely to Medicaid and food stamps, by imposing work requirements on able-bodied people, including some parents and older Americans, making sign-up eligibility more stringent and changing federal reimbursements to states.

Senators insist on changes

Few Republicans appeared fully satisfied as the final package emerged, in either the House or the Senate.

“The big not so beautiful bill has passed,” Paul said after the vote.