Republicans in the U.S. Senate have passed the “big, beautiful bill” championed by President Donald Trump, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote after three GOP members voted “no” with Democrats.
The wide-ranging package extends tax cuts and slashes federal spending on safety net programs. The vote was initially delayed as Republican leaders worked to get enough support in their party to pass the measure.
Before the vote, the Senate spent roughly 24 hours considering dozens of amendments. Most of them were filed by Democrats and failed on mostly party-line votes, but they allowed Democrats to rail against the nearly 1,000-page package and highlight provisions they say will benefit the rich while hurting the poor.
“This bill is a catastrophe for health care in Georgia and for Georgia’s economy,” U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff said in a news conference after the vote. “This bill will push hospitals and nursing homes to the financial brink.”
Ossoff unsuccessfully attempted to pass an amendment that would have added language to the bill reauthorizing certain Affordable Care Act tax credits that are currently being allowed to expired.
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
Credit: Ben Hendren for the AJC
His colleague and fellow Atlanta Democrat, U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock, introduced an amendment that would have restored clean energy tax credits that Republicans are eliminating in the bill. That also failed.
Warnock, Ossoff and the other 45 members in the Democratic caucus all opposed the legislation.
They were joined by three Republicans: U.S. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky, Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine.
Paul has said for months that he believes the bill adds too much to the federal deficit and is opposed. Tillis and Collins opposed the Medicaid and green energy cuts.
Vance made an unscheduled appearance at the Capitol on Tuesday morning to meet with GOP senators before the 51-50 vote.
That final vote came after a series of rapid-fire votes on 48 amendments over the course of the 24-hour “vote-a-rama.” Senate Republicans huddled with one another on the floor negotiating an amendment that would earn the support of Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski.
The final bill was introduced minutes before the vote was taken and needed Vance’s vote to break the tie, sending it back to the House, where Republicans hold a 220-212 advantage in seats.
Lawmakers, interest groups and journalists were left trying to figure out what did and did not pass in the final Senate bill after the vote. The House Rules Committee began meeting shortly after the Senate vote in hopes of sending the measure to the floor in that chamber as soon as Wednesday morning.
Trump has been vocal about wanting the legislation to be approved sometime around the July Fourth holiday.
The House narrowly approved a different version in May. Some of the changes made in the Senate, such as steeper cuts to Medicaid and a softer phase-out of clean energy incentives, might make it harder for House Republicans to support the bill.
The Senate bill also adds about $1 trillion more to the national debt than the House version, angering many fiscal conservatives.
Georgia Rep. Andrew Clyde said he is waiting to see what comes out of the Senate before he decides how he will vote later this week when the House is expected to take up the measure.
Clyde, who represents northeast Georgia, fought for provisions removing taxes and regulations on gun silencers to be added to the House bill. The Senate bill initially went even further by also deregulating short-barrel shotguns and other types of firearms. But all of that language was taken out after the Senate parliamentarian ruled the provisions cannot remain in the larger bill if Republicans want to pass it without facing the 60-vote filibuster.
Clyde, R-Athens, is also unhappy that the clean energy tax credits won’t be phased out as quickly in the Senate bill compared to what the House approved.
While Clyde’s support is uncertain, U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene is likely to back the bill now that the Senate stripped out language prohibiting states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years. Removing the provision had nearly universal support and was approved 99-1, with only Tillis in opposition.
Greene, R-Rome, had supported the bill during the May vote but said she was unaware of the AI language and would not support the bill moving forward unless that provision was removed.
Trump posted on his Truth Social account after the vote that he expects House Republicans to unite behind the Senate version of the bill and quickly pass it so he can sign it into law.
“It is no longer a ‘House Bill’ or a ‘Senate Bill,’” he wrote. “It is everyone’s bill.”
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