Congress

Senate passes Trump’s megabill after pulling all-nighter

Published

8 months ago

July 1, 2025

Senate Republicans narrowly passed Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” Tuesday, taking a significant step toward the president’s goal of signing the legislation later this week.

The vote was 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance breaking a tie. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina joined Democrats and voted no.

The bill is expected to be the party’s marquee legislative achievement heading into next year’s midterms. The GOP’s slim House majority is at risk, and in the Senate, Tillis’ retirement announcement this week handed Democrats a major opening.

In addition to extending the president’s 2017 tax cuts, the bill includes scaled-down versions of his campaign priorities, such as “no tax on tips,” while overhauling social safety-net programs, and providing new border and military spending. It also hikes the federal debt ceiling by $5 trillion.

“This is about extending that tax relief so the same people that benefited from it back in 2017 and for the last eight years don’t end up having a colossal, massive tax increase hitting them in the face come Jan. 1,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.

The Tuesday morning vote followed nearly a full day of round-the-clock uncertainty over how the bill would come together, all set against a slow-moving amendment “vote-a-rama” taking place on the Senate floor.

It made for a messy ending to a months-long process. Thune, Majority Whip John Barrasso and other leaders shuttled between GOP holdouts as the votes dragged on overnight. After huddling with a band of fiscal hawks around 1 a.m., the normally chatty Thune said only that “progress is an elusive term.”

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski emerged as a particular focus of leaders’ attention. They already spent days working with her to address concerns about the bill’s impact on her state’s health care and economy — for instance, putting a expanded tax break for whaling boat captains in the bill. But some of their proposals ran into trouble from the Senate parliamentarian, leaving her vote in question until the very end.

As Republicans questioned if they would be able to win her over, Thune and key committee chairs met with Paul, thought to be their most dug-in “no” vote, to see if he might be gettable.

Now Republicans could face an even more painful headache across the Capitol: The package still needs to get through the House, which is expected to start voting as soon as Wednesday, driving Republicans right down to the wire on their self-imposed July 4 deadline.

That will be a heavy lift: Moderates are worried about changes to Medicaid and clean energy tax credits included in the Senate bill, and conservatives are up in arms that it doesn’t go far enough in cutting spending. But GOP leaders are betting they can get it through the way they did their initial draft earlier this year — by daring holdouts to vote against Donald Trump.

Many of the same provisions that are giving House Republicans heartburn also sparked GOP opposition in the Senate. Collins had warned for days that she was leaning against the bill absent her cRon Johnsonolleagues agreeing to soften a provision curtailing state provider taxes, which many states use to fund their Medicaid programs, and significantly increase a rural hospital fund.

But Collins’ amendment failed on a procedural vote. She accused Democrats of “hypocrisy” afterward for voting to sink a provision softening the bill’s blow but insisted it wouldn’t impact her final vote, adding: “I told all of you earlier in the week that I have problems with the bill.”

Tillis, meanwhile, compared the political ramifications of the Medicaid provisions to the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which was followed by political wipeouts for Democrats in subsequent elections. After getting attacked by Trump, and Senate leaders doing little to try to assuage his concerns on Medicaid, he announced on Sunday he would not run for re-election. That was in part to send a sign that he wasn’t flippable on the bill, according to a person close to Tillis granted anonymity to disclose private discussions.

Paul was long viewed as most likely “no” due to his firm opposition to the debt ceiling hike embedded in the megabill. But he was only one of four fiscal hawks that leaders had been watching.

The other three — Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida — ultimately voted for the bill, as several of their colleagues suggested they would weeks ago. The effort to win over the group included multiple meetings with Trump, outreach from Vance and an 11th-hour meeting late Sunday night with top Senate Republicans, including Thune.

As part of that meeting, Thune agreed to support a Scott effort to curb how much the federal government pays to cover some Medicaid enrollees starting in 2031. In exchange, Johnson, Lee, Scott and Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming all agreed to start debate on the bill. In the end, the amendment never got a vote after several Republican senators made clear they would not support it and it could not pass.

House Republicans and some governors bet that the Senate would water down the House’s Medicaid changes when the bill came across the Capitol earlier this year. Instead, the Senate Finance Committee went further than the House by incrementally scaling back the provider tax cap in expansion states instead of just freezing it.

The Senate’s passage of the bill is the culmination of more than a year of work, dating back to early 2024, when Barrasso held a meeting between Senate Republicans and Trump campaign officials to start discussing the agenda if their party won a trifecta. Senate Finance Committee Republicans also started meeting more than a year ago to start discussing the contours of their eventual reconciliation bill, and Thune convened meetings with his members to test how policy ideas would fare across the conference.

Thune and Johnson have been in close contact for months, including regular meetings and increasingly frequent phone calls as the Senate bill inched closer to the finish line. Yet Johnson will now need to sell his own members, nervous about the political and policy implications of the bill.

Democrats are planning to use many of those same arguments that Republicans are raising internally to hammer them heading into next year’s midterm election. Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is warning that “the American people will not forget what Republicans do in this chamber today.”

“We heard what our colleague from North Carolina had to say about this bill. My guess is half, maybe even more than half of the Republicans in the Senate totally agree with him,” Schumer said. “But he had the courage to speak the truth. The backbone to speak the truth. But not our other colleagues.”

Congress

SAVE America Act is ‘No. 1 priority,’ Trump tells Republicans

Published

2 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DORAL, Florida — President Donald Trump told House Republicans Monday to pass a major partisan elections bill a third time with new provisions, saying it should be the GOP’s “No. 1 priority” ahead of the midterm elections.

“It will guarantee the midterms,” Trump told lawmakers gathered at his golf resort. “If you don’t get it, big trouble, my opinion.”

The president spent 13 minutes at the close of a nearly hourlong address making crystal-clear he expects Speaker Mike Johnson and other top leaders to meet his demands. The House has already two passed versions of what is now called the “SAVE America Act” that would institute tough new citizenship and photo ID requirements for voting.

But Trump asked the gathered lawmakers to add in provisions curbing mail voting and targeting transgender rights — even it means abandoning the remainder of their legislative agenda before the November elections.

“Let’s go for the gold,” he said. “It’s actually a matter in a serious way of national survival. We can’t have these elections going on like this anymore.”

The already passed version of the SAVE America Act is awaiting a Senate vote. Majority Leader John Thune has committed to calling it up, but it is certain to be blocked by Democrats under the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Some conservatives, with Trump’s backing are looking to sidestep that obstacle with a “talking filibuster” that would force Democrats to hold the floor. Thune and other Senate Republicans are skeptical it would work without a rules change, but Trump said Monday failure was not an option.

“They have to get it done,” he said of the Senate. “If it takes you six months — I’m for not approving anything. … I don’t think we should approve anything until this is approved.”

Trump also endorsed a push by some House Republican hard-liners to attach a must-pass spy powers extension to the SAVE America legislation in a bid to pass both together — creating a nightmare for House GOP leaders who already face obstacles passing either bill.

He cast the voting and transgender provisions as proven political winners that Democrats would be hard-pressed to oppose, even though they have so far stayed almost entirely united against the legislation.

“That should be the easiest thing to get passed that you’ve ever had,” Trump said. “Those are best of Trump. This is the No. 1 priority, it should be, for the House.”

Congress

Rising energy prices threaten cornerstone of GOP midterm pitch

Published

4 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

DORAL, Florida — The economic fallout from President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran is imperiling the GOP’s legislative sales pitch ahead of the midterms, with energy price spikes threatening at least some of the pocketbook gains Americans are seeing from the sweeping tax cuts Republicans enacted last year.

Analysts with the Wall Street advisory and investment firm Evercore ISI estimated Monday that the impact on household costs attributable to the current crisis could erase the tax benefits from the “big, beautiful bill” for at least the bottom 30 percent of Americans — even if oil prices come off their $100-plus-per-barrel highs.

Some top Republicans acknowledged rising energy prices are cause for political concern.

“The price of gas is always kind of a benchmark,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters on Capitol Hill Monday. “I do think the fact that we’ve increased our supply here domestically will help ease it, but it’s something obviously we’ve got to pay attention to. And hopefully the operations in Iran … won’t be an extended situation.”

The impact of higher gas prices is hitting just as House Republicans gather for their annual policy retreat at Trump’s resort in Doral, Florida. The evidence could be seen just outside the gates, where regular gas was retailing at multiple stations for $3.59 per gallon — up about 70 cents from the Miami-area average on Jan. 1, according to GasBuddy.com.

The hope among Republicans gathered at the resort is that the crisis is short-lived, with several saying they believed Trump’s assurances that the supply bottlenecks caused by Iran’s effective blockade of the Persian Gulf would soon ease.

“I believe there’s a lot of emotion built into energy prices,” Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-N.C.) said in an interview. “I would look for things to settle down very soon.”

But other Republicans granted anonymity to speak candidly expressed real alarm as crude oil prices surged to nearly $120 a barrel overnight before settling later in the day below $90 — still about 30 percent above recent lows.

“If you are a Republican and not concerned right now, you are stupid,” one House Republican said, adding, “Hopefully, we will square this away sooner than later.”

Another House Republican, asked if the wartime crisis threatened to overshadow the benefits of the GOP megabill, replied, “Hell yes.”

“The most sensitive thing amongst most driving Americans is the price of gasoline,” the person added, saying it threatens to send Americans “right up the wall.”

Trump is scheduled to address lawmakers in Doral shortly after markets close Monday, and they will be listening closely to his message on the hostilities in the Middle East and his plans to address high energy prices. He has announced plans to get oil shipments moving through the Gulf again, including by providing naval escorts for tankers and backstopping insurance for vessels.

White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers said in a statement that oil prices will “drop dramatically once the objectives of Operation Epic Fury are achieved.”

“President Trump and his entire energy team have had a strong game plan to keep the energy markets stable well before Operation Epic Fury began, and they will continue to review all credible options,” she said.

But the president so far has shown little interest in pushing his party to foremost focus on legislation tackling affordability, as some of his political aides have advised. Instead, Trump is pressing Senate Republicans to pass a sweeping GOP elections overhaul bill — adding on demands for a near-complete ban on mail voting and unrelated policy provisions like banning transgender surgeries for minors.

Hours before taking the stage in front of House Republicans at his Florida resort, he reiterated his request.

Even before the oil price shock, Trump’s agenda had come with a hefty price tag for consumers. Analysts at the Tax Foundation have already determined that the president’s trade policies cost Americans $1,000 on average last year, matching the average size of refund checks that Trump officials say will ease cost-of-living concerns.

The Supreme Court struck down many of Trump’s tariffs, but those that remain are projected to cost households $600 on average this year, according to the nonpartisan think tank.

House Republican leaders are hoping to keep the annual policy retreat focused on their legislative priorities ahead of the midterms. Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, the GOP Conference chair, said ahead of the retreat she hoped to firm up the party’s messaging around last year’s megabill.

But going into the Doral resort Monday, members were trained on all the reasons they hoped the politically perilous price spike would be short-lived.

House Natural Resources Chair Bruce Westerman (R-Ark.) said in an interview that reopening the Iranian-controlled Strait of Hormuz “would be even better for energy prices, although we’re seeing obviously a peak right now with the war going on.”

Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.Va.) said the supply crunch was “not an existential threat to us because of all the things we’ve done to make ourselves self reliant in terms of energy resources,” while acknowledging the “fungible” nature of the global oil market. He was hopeful about more ships navigating the Strait of Hormuz.

Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) said in an interview a “short-term gas price hike is … not what’s important.”

“What’s important is the long term benefits of having a peaceful Iran that means that gas prices will drop dramatically for the long term,” he said. “I’m not that concerned about it.”

Sam Sutton contributed to this report.

Congress

Thune: Talking filibuster ‘more complicated and risky’ than people realize

Published

4 hours ago

March 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune sent a warning shot Monday over the talking filibuster, saying the procedural playcall is “way more complicated” than many supporters realize.

“This particular approach in terms of the process is much more complicated and risky than people are assuming at the moment,” Thune told reporters, cautioning that a talking filibuster without forcing through a formal rules change — for which there isn’t the votes — could take up months of Senate floor time.

Thune’s comments came after President Donald Trump urged the Senate to quickly take up and pass GOP-led voting legislation, known as the SAVE America Act — even if it means invoking a talking filibuster, which would force Democrats to physically hold the floor in order to block consideration of the bill.

Trump also pitched expanding the bill’s scope beyond voting to include red meat issues like banning men from participating in women’s sports and prohibiting gender affirming surgery for children. Thune said Monday it would “make sense” for the House to send an updated bill to reflect Trump’s latest priorities.

Thune is the target of a fierce online pressure campaign to skirt the Senate’s 60-vote legislative filibuster — coming both from House Republicans and what the majority leader characterized Monday as a “paid influencer ecosystem.”

Part of the pitch from Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and his allies has been that Republicans could force Democrats into a talking filibuster without having to officially change the Senate rules or precedents. Thune reiterated Monday that formally nuking the legislative filibuster is “not going to happen.”

“The one thing I’ve said all along and I’ve told him and others — that I can’t guarantee an outcome,” Thune said, referring to Trump. “I can’t guarantee a result if the result is only achieved by nuking the legislative filibuster. We don’t have the votes to do that, and so that’s just not a realistic option and I’ve made that clear to anybody who’s asked.”

But a significant number of GOP senators are also skeptical of a talking filibuster even without changing the Senate’s rules. Some believe the gambit would permanently weaken the 60-vote legislative filibuster. Others think the procedural option being floated by Lee and others is unworkable because it would let Democrats bog down the floor and potentially hijack the bill for any proposal for which they could get at least 50 votes.

“The process and how you ultimately try and get a result is still unclear to me based on all the research we’ve done,” Thune said Monday about invoking a talking filibuster, adding that conversations are still ongoing within the conference about the process.