Senate Republicans hauled President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill to passage Tuesday on the narrowest of votes, pushing past opposition from Democrats and their own GOP ranks after a turbulent overnight session.
Vice President JD Vance broke a 50-50 tie to push it over the top.
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.
These GOP senators opposed Trump’s bill:
Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina
Sen. Susan Collins of Maine
Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky
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.
Trump thinks Senate-passed spending bill go down easy in the House
Told that some House Republicans have said they cannot support the Senate’s changes to the massive bill, Trump said the measure has “something for everyone.”
“It’s a great bill … and I think it’s going to go very nicely in the House,” Trump said. “I think it’s going to go easier in the House.”
The difficulty it took for Republicans, who have the majority hold in Congress, to wrestle the bill to this point isn’t 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.