The Senate passed the sweeping policy bill after a marathon debate and vote session that started late on June 28. The bill now heads back to the House.
WASHINGTON—The Senate passed its version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at midday on July 1 after a “vote-a-rama” that began the previous day and continued through the night.
Vice President JD Vance broke a 50–50 tie to secure passage of the bill.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine) voted in opposition.
Other holdouts, including Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), ultimately supported the legislation despite misgivings.
Moderate Republicans had been concerned that proposed cuts to Medicaid were too steep, while fiscal conservatives have criticized the bill for not cutting enough spending.
Through the night, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) labored to find agreement among the Republican caucus members, several of whom had submitted amendments to tailor the bill to their liking. The final Senate bill represents weeks of compromise and deal-making among Republicans, which culminated in this narrow victory.
The passage is a significant political win for President Donald Trump, enacting provisions for critical elements of his second-term agenda, including increased border security, the extension of the 2017 tax cuts, rescinding so-called green-energy tax credits, and no tax on tips or overtime.
The bill now moves to the House, where House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) now faces the difficult task of corralling both the conservatives and the moderates within his narrow majority in support of the bill.
Congress had been racing to pass the bill through both chambers by a self-imposed deadline of Independence Day, a goal that now seems in doubt as the legislation returns to the House for consideration. But Trump on July 1 suggested that he was open to delaying the deadline.
Speaking to reporters ahead of the vote, Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) said that it would be “a challenge to get it all done by July 4.”
Johnson told reporters that he was “very hopeful” that the House will pass the bill, although he avoided promising passage within the next two days.
Bill Moves to House
Trump had telephoned senators to get their support for the bill, according to Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). The president was “incredibly involved,” Graham told reporters after the vote.
“It is no longer a ‘House Bill’ or a ‘Senate Bill.’ It is everyone’s Bill,” Trump wrote on social media following the vote.
The president urged the House to unite behind the bill.
“We are on schedule—Let’s keep it going, and be done before you and your family go on a July 4th vacation,” he wrote.
In a July 1 statement, Johnson and the House Republican leadership team voiced optimism that the bill would pass the House on schedule.
“House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump’s desk in time for Independence Day,” reads the statement from Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), and Conference Chair Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).
et some Republicans are still hoping to slow the process in order to give fuller consideration to some aspects of the bill, particularly those affecting Medicaid.
Murkowski said, “I have urged our leadership, I have urged the White House that more process is needed to this bill, because I would like to see a better outcome for people in this country.”
Murkowski said she faced a choice between killing the bill or improving it. She voted for the bill despite some reservations because of the help it provides Alaskans, including assistance to struggling rural hospitals, she told reporters.
Thune said he was hopeful that the House would accept the Senate’s version of the bill.
“I think we took what they sent us and strengthened and improved upon it,” Thune told reporters.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) renewed his criticism of the legislation in a floor speech following the vote.
“Today’s vote will haunt our Republican colleagues for years to come,” Schumer said, saying the tax provisions of the bill were shameful.
Democrats have said that the bill offers tax cuts for wealthy people at the expense of health coverage for the poor.
Referring to the bill’s possible effect on Medicaid, food assistance, and the national debt, Schumer said, “This is not what the American people want.”
Schumer had earlier raised a point of order in the Senate to have the name “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” stricken from the legislation.
The House is scheduled to vote on the bill on July 2.
Vote-a-Rama
Senators had worked through the weekend to get the bill passed, holding the floor open for 35 hours between June 28 and the early hours of June 30.
Much of that time—16 hours—was dedicated to a reading of the full text of the 940-page bill requested by Schumer, a tactic that stalled the beginning of debate on the legislation.
The upper chamber reconvened at 9 a.m. on June 30 to begin the marathon vote series dubbed a “vote-a-rama.” The term describes a series of votes on amendments proposed to a budget reconciliation bill. The often lengthy procedure is required to pass bills of this type in the Senate with only a simple majority.
The pace on the Senate side of the Capitol building was frenetic amid the long “vote-a-rama” on amendments to the budget bill. While senators usually have answers ready for most any issue, Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) admitted that he was having trouble keeping up with all the developments happening behind the scenes.
He told reporters that there are “so many moving pieces.”
The noon vote came after more than 24 hours of politicking as a handful of key Republicans lobbied for their amendments.
Last-Minute Changes
Among the last-minute changes made to the bill were provisions regarding rural hospitals, the Medicaid provider tax imposed by most states, and an excise tax on some imports from China.
The Senate version of the bill established a stabilization fund for rural hospitals to assuage concerns that reductions in Medicaid spending could harm the financially strapped institutions.
Collins had urged the Senate to increase the amount of the fund from $25 billion to $50 billion to be paid over five years.
A controversial provision that would limit states’ ability to levy taxes on Medicaid providers, an arrangement that allows states to increase the federal payments they receive without providing additional services, was left in the bill.
The revised bill provides $20 million to the Department of Health and Human Services to implement the provider tax section of the bill, an increase from $6 million
An excise tax on wind and solar energy items imported from China was stripped from the bill.
Medicaid
Tillis, who announced on June 29 that he wouldn’t seek reelection in 2026, tied his opposition to the bill’s cuts to Medicaid.
In a speech on the Senate floor during the debate on June 29, he spoke critically of the measure’s changes to Medicaid, saying that Trump had been “misinformed” about the nature of the bill’s cuts to the entitlement program.
The current draft of the bill imposes new 80-hour monthly work requirements for able-bodied adults to receive benefits. It also reduces the maximum provider tax states can charge hospitals and doctors to pay for their state Medicaid program.
Tillis said the changes break Trump’s campaign promises to protect Medicaid, comparing it to President Barack Obama’s politically infamous “if you like your health care plan, you can keep it” quote on the Affordable Care Act.
Paul has tied his opposition to the bill’s $5 trillion increase for the debt ceiling, saying often that he would support the package only if this provision were removed and given a separate vote.
Possible House Controversies
With the package now heading to the House, Medicaid cuts are likely to be a primary concern for many Republicans from purple districts.
Moderates like Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) and other Republican lawmakers—particularly from states like New York and California—were persuaded to advance the bill through the House in earlier votes.
However, final passage could be a different matter.
Conservatives could have additional objections.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) has been a leading voice in opposition to the clean energy tax credits. The expedited removal of these credits was a condition of conservatives’ support for the bill’s passage in the House. The adoption of the Grassley–Ernst–Murkowski amendment could thus prompt stiff opposition from Roy and other conservatives.
“The House budget framework was clear: no new deficit spending in the One Big Beautiful Bill. The Senate’s version adds $651 billion to the deficit—and that’s before interest costs, which nearly double the total. That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to,” the House Freedom Caucus wrote on social media platform X.
“The Senate must make major changes and should at least be in the ballpark of compliance with the agreed upon House budget framework. Republicans must do better.”
Others have joined in Paul’s objections to the Senate’s $5 trillion debt ceiling increase, which is $1 trillion more than the amount authorized by the original House draft.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and other members of the House Freedom Caucus have also been outspoken in their opposition to such a steep debt ceiling increase. Norman and others initially refused to vote for the budget blueprint authorizing committees to begin work on the bill because of the steep rise it would authorize in U.S. debt.
On June 30, as the Senate proceeded with voting on the bill, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk vowed to primary any Republican who backed the bill after running on reducing spending.
“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk said in a post on X. “They will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”
Another sticking point with several lawmakers in the lower chamber could be the bill’s projected impact on the deficit.
The Congressional Budget Office released updated estimates on June 27 projecting that the reconciliation bill would increase the deficit by about $3.25 trillion.
Despite these challenges, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) was nevertheless optimistic, telling reporters, “We think we’re going to pass a bill that they can pass.”
If you found this article interesting, please consider supporting traditional journalism
Our first edition was published 25 years ago from a basement in Atlanta. Today, The Epoch Times brings fact-based, award-winning journalism to millions of Americans.
Our journalists have been threatened, arrested, and assaulted, but our commitment to independent journalism has never wavered. This year marks our 25th year of independent reporting, free from corporate and political influence.
That’s why you’re invited to a limited-time introductory offer — just $1 per week — so you can join millions already celebrating independent news.