Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ awaits final Senate vote
A marathon voting session on President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill has been underway in the Senate and has stretched overnight into Tuesday morning.
After a weekend of negotiations and delays, lawmakers continue to offer changes to the president’s “big, beautiful bill” before a final vote.
Where it stands: The vote-a-rama – an open-ended series of votes on amendments, some political, some substantive – started around 9:35 a.m. on Monday and is still going.
Trump’s multitrillion-dollar bill would lower federal taxes and infuse more money into the Pentagon and border security agencies, while downsizing government safety-net programs including Medicaid.
Here are the changes Republican senators have made to the bill:
- The Senate’s first adopted amendment to the bill, offered by Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, bars federal funds from being used for unemployment benefits for individuals whose wages are at least $1 million.
- Another amendment that passed, led by GOP Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, strikes language from the bill that would have blocked state and local governments from enforcing their own artificial intelligence regulations for 10 years.
- The Senate adopted a third amendment, introduced by GOP Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana, that would move up the eligibility verification requirement for Medicaid by one year.
What’s next: Lawmakers are up against an extremely tight timeline to pass the legislation. The president has demanded Congress deliver the bill to his desk by the Fourth of July holiday, but the measure still has to go back to the House if it passes the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters around 4:30 a.m. “we’re close,” saying they still have “a few amendment votes” until final passage. But Thune did not give a number for how many amendment votes are left, and it’s unclear how long the process will take with no final vote yet scheduled.