US Senate Republicans narrowly pass Trump's 'big, beautiful' bill
by Ella Bennett · LBCBy Ella Bennett
Senate Republicans have pushed through Donald Trump's big tax breaks and spending cuts bill on the narrowest of margins, despite opposition from Democrats and their own ranks.
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The sudden outcome capped an unusually tense weekend of work at the Capitol as the president's signature legislative priority teetered on the edge of approval or collapse.
In the end the vote tally was 50-50, with vice president JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
Three Republican senators - Thom Tillis, Susan Collins and Rand Paul - joined all Democrats in voting against it.
"The big not so beautiful bill has passed," Mr Paul said afterwards.
The difficulty for Republicans is not expected to let up. The package now goes back to the House, where speaker Mike Johnson had warned senators not to overhaul what his chamber had already approved.
But the Senate did make changes, particularly to Medicaid, risking more problems ahead. House Republican leaders said they would put it on Mr Trump's desk by his July 4 deadline.
It was a pivotal moment for the president and his party as they have been consumed by the 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as it is formally titled, and invested their political capital in delivering on the Republicans' sweep of power in Washington.
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Mr Trump acknowledged it was "very complicated stuff" as he departed the White House on Tuesday.
"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 spiralled into a round-the-clock slog as Republican leaders tried to shore up support.
Senate majority leader John Thune worked around the clock desperately reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill's reductions to Medicaid would leave millions more people without care, and his most conservative flank, which wants steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts.
"In the end we got the job done," Mr Thune said afterwards.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said: "Republicans are in shambles because they know the bill is so unpopular."
The bill includes 4.5 trillion dollars (£3.2 trillion) in tax cuts, according to the latest analysis, making permanent Mr 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 dollars (£870 billion) 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.
Additionally, the bill would provide a 350 billion dollar (£254 billion) infusion for border and national security, including for deportations, some of it paid for with new fees charged to immigrants.