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U.S. Senate Majority Chief John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press convention following the U.S. Senate Republicans’ weekly coverage luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
President Donald Trump’s “huge, stunning invoice” cleared a key procedural hurdle within the U.S. Senate late Saturday evening, pushing the huge spending bundle one step nearer to the president’s desk.
The vote on a movement to proceed to closing debate on the invoice handed with 51 yeas and 49 nays. Each Democrat and two Republicans, Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., and Rand Paul, Ky., voted towards it.
The precise voting took hours and the measure solely handed after three Republican holdouts — Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rick Scott of Florida and Cynthia Lummus of Wyoming — folded and voted sure.
Sen. Ron Johnson, Wis., an outspoken critic of the invoice, finally modified his vote to a “sure” from a “no.” That extra Republican vote gave the invoice 51 yeas, so Vice President JD Vance didn’t have to forged a vote to interrupt a tie.
The last word vote was a victory for Republican Majority Chief John Thune, S.D., who has pledged to get the invoice to Trump for his signature by July 4.
Trump hailed the late-night vote passage and mentioned he was “VERY PROUD OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TONIGHT” in an all-caps, late-night Fact Social publish.
However the hours of uncertainty and last-minute wrangling underscore the difficult path forward for the controversial bundle.
Saturday’s procedural vote tees up a closing Senate vote on the megabill that may possible occur someday Monday.
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Chief Chuck Schumer, are forcing the 940-page invoice to be learn out loud as soon as it heads to full debate on the Senate ground Sunday.
“We will likely be right here all evening if that is what it takes to learn it,” Schumer wrote Saturday on X.
Whereas the bundle can’t formally go the higher chamber till the ultimate vote, the procedural vote was thought of an enormous take a look at for Thune.
The vote comes after weeks of turmoil and pressure over the huge bundle that uncovered bitter coverage disputes and emboldened some agency Republican holdouts.
Some Republican senators repeatedly balked on the invoice’s impression on the nationwide debt.
The Senate invoice might add over $3.9 trillion to the nationwide debt, in keeping with a Congressional Finances Workplace evaluation.
The sweeping home coverage bundle can even should be handed once more within the Home, which simply narrowly handed its personal model of the invoice final month.
Some Home Republicans have already expressed opposition to key components of the Senate model of the invoice — most notably deep cuts to Medicaid — possible foreshadowing an in depth vote within the decrease chamber.
Each Thune and Home Speaker Mike Johnson maintain slim majorities of their respective chambers, that means they’ll solely afford to lose the assist of a small variety of Republican lawmakers to go the bundle in a party-line vote.
In the meantime, Trump continues to induce lawmakers to get the bundle handed earlier than Republicans’ self-imposed July 4 deadline.
“President Trump is dedicated to protecting his guarantees, and failure to go this invoice could be the last word betrayal,” the White Home mentioned in an announcement of administration coverage on Saturday.
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