U.S. Senate Majority Leader Sen. John Thune (R-SD) (L) walks off the Senate floor after the Senate stayed in session throughout the night at the U.S. Capitol Building on July 1, 2025 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images
The Senate on Tuesday passed President Donald Trump’s megabill after days of negotiations and a marathon amendment session that at times appeared to imperil the domestic policy package.
The final vote was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting a final, tie-breaking vote. Republican Sens. Thom Tillis, N.C., Rand Paul, Ky., and Susan Collins, Me., all broke with their party and voted against the massive spending bill.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune‘s victory in the upper chamber may be short-lived, however, as the megabill now goes to the House, where it faces an uncertain future amid firm GOP hold-outs.
U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) walks to the Senate floor as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 1, 2025.
Nathan Howard | Reuters
The House, which just squeaked out its version of the bill, must accept the Senate’s substantial changes to the package, a daunting task especially as some GOP lawmakers have expressed continued concerns over the bill’s impact on the deficit.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add at least $3 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
Some House Republicans reluctantly voted for the package in May, and now, with the Senate changes, which include deeper Medicaid cuts, lawmakers are expressing continued resistance.
With his narrow majority, House Speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose three votes in his chamber to pass the legislation in a party-line vote.
Still, Republican senators are hailing the vote passage in their chamber as a victory, following a weekend session of work and a record-breaking vote-a-rama, which lasted 24 hours.
The bill first cleared a key procedural hurdle late Saturday, after the vote was held open for hours and a handful of lawmakers appeared unlikely to budge.
U.S. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) walks with reporters after leaving the Senate chambers, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 1, 2025.
Elizabeth Frantz | Reuters
For more than 24 hours, senators have voted on dozens of amendments to the bill in a marathon, record-breaking vote-a-rama session.
Behind the scenes, GOP leadership has been negotiating with hold-outs in their conference who, for days, have threatened to sink Trump’s bill.
Passing that hurdle gave way to a marathon session of voting on amendments during a process called a “vote-a-rama,” during which lawmakers voted on nearly 50 amendments.
Ultimately, none of the amendments fundamentally changed the bill, but Democrats seized on the process to force their GOP colleagues to go on the record on some politically tenuous positions.
As the bill heads back to the House, lawmakers are rushing to try to get the package to Trump’s desk before a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance (C) arrives during a vote-a-rama at the U.S. Capitol, on July 1, 2025 in Washington, DC. Republican leaders are pushing to get President Donald Trump’s so-called “One, Big, Beautiful Bill,” Act through Congress and to his desk before the July 4 Independence Day holiday.
Al Drago | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The package, which seeks to codify Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda, faces a tenuous path in the lower chamber.
Hard-line conservative House members, such as Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, have voiced frustration over what they view as the Senate using the July 4 deadline to force a vote in the lower chamber, despite persistent opposition.
“Rumor is Senate plans to jam the House with its weaker, unacceptable OBBB before 7/4,” Roy wrote on X last week, referring to Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” which was renamed right before the vote.
“This is not a surprise but it would be a mistake,” Roy said, adding that he “would not vote for it as it is.”
The Senate passage comes as Trump last week ramped up his pressure campaign on lawmakers to pass the bill before July 4, increasing the stakes of the self-imposed deadline
“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” he wrote on Truth Social.
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