Senate Republicans passed the GOP’s massive spending bill 51-50 Tuesday, with Vice President JD Vance serving as the tie-breaking vote. Three Republicans — Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Susan Collins of Maine — voted against the bill.
After a weekend “vote-a-rama” and an overnight session with more than 24 hours of negotiations and debate, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” finally passed the Senate. The bill, which includes major cuts to safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP, while providing tax cuts that disproportionately favor the wealthy, now heads to the House Rules committee next. It will then head back to the House floor for another vote.
“Music to my ears,” President Donald Trump told reporters after learning that the bill passed.
Before heading to the Senate, the spending bill only passed in the House by one vote. Despite ongoing criticism from some Republicans, House GOP leaders remained committed to passing the bill.
“The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump’s full America First agenda by the Fourth of July. The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer and conference chair Lisa McClain said in a joint statement.
More far-right House Republicans, like those in the House Freedom Caucus, have criticized the Senate’s version of the bill for its increase to the national deficit. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the national deficit could increase by $3.3 trillion in 10 years.
“That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to,” the House Freedom Caucus said in a statement on X.
Start your day with essential news from Salon.
Sign up for our free morning newsletter, Crash Course.
Other Republicans are dissatisfied with the bill’s aggressive Medicaid cuts. Rep. David Valadao, Calif., criticized the bill over the weekend.
“I’ve been clear from the start that I will not support a final reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, puts critical funding at risk, or threatens the stability of healthcare providers across CA-22,” Valadao wrote in a post on X.
The bill includes more funding for the military and Trump’s mass deportation plans, while cutting hundreds of billions of dollars from social welfare programs. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that 17 million Americans will lose health care coverage as a result.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin blasted the package, calling it “one of the worst bills in the history of Congress.”
“Donald Trump and Senate Republicans have sent a clear message to the American people: Your kids, your job, and your elderly relatives don’t matter,” Martin wrote on X. “It’s a massive scheme to steal from working folks, struggling families, and hell, even from nursing homes — all to enrich the already rich with a tax giveaway.”
