After hours of discussion, you could vote for something that can be revised.
Winners and losers of “Big Beautiful Bills”
These are the potential winners and losers of the tax bills that President Donald Trump called the “big beautiful bill.”
- The Senate began hours of discussion on Trump’s legislative priorities on June 28th.
- Trump’s former adviser Elon Musk denounced the bill as “political suicide” before Senate debate began.
- The Senate is aiming to send the bill back to the House for approval. Trump asked Congress to complete the bill by July 4th.
WASHINGTON – The Senate begins a marathon debate on President Donald Trump’s legislative priorities as Republicans try to lead needles with a narrow majority for tax cuts, Medicaid reform and border patrol funding.
The debate comes after the dramatic 51-49 votes were held for more than three and a half hours on June 28th, negotiated with Senator leaders Vice President Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance, but was held on June 28th.
The victory meant that the bill cleared key hurdles for the success of Trump’s domestic agenda on tax cuts and border security. Trump urged Congress to complete the measures by July 4th.
After the vote, minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York forced the Senate clerk to read the entire 940-page bill, rather than customizing the chore.
An argument that could last 20 hours before voting for dozens of revisions and what would be expected in a process called “voting,” which can be hours longer.
John Thune, the leader of the R-South Dakota majority, said it is unclear whether enough Republicans will send back home in support of the final version of their bill. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tom Tillis of North Carolina were the only Republican votes against the debate on the written bill.
“We know,” Tune said.
This is what has happened so far:
Trump took to his true social platform to criticize GOP lawmakers Tillis and Paul for opposing moving forward with his major tax bills.
“A lot of people have wanted to run the primary against ‘Senator Tom’ Tillis. I will be meeting them over the next few weeks to find people who will adequately represent the greats of North Carolina and, importantly, the United States of America,” Trump said.
Trump told longtime Kentucky GOP lawmaker Paul, “Did Land Paul vote “no” again tonight? What’s wrong with this guy? ”
– Marina Pitovsky
Want to read Trump’s bill yourself? You can find 1,000 pages of documentation here.
Our savanna kucha breaks down what we actually are in and how it affects Americans from coast to coast.
– Marina Pitovsky
Medicaid, which provides health insurance to over 71 million low-income Americans, has been a regular issue for both rooms working on the law.
After the House of Representatives saved at least $625 billion and approved a major change to a program that could potentially lose 7.6 million Americans over the next decade, the Senate called for even deeper cuts.
Senator Elizabeth McDonough has settled a handful of changes from the Senate bill, including banning non-citizen compensation and banning funds to maintain gender. Upper Chamber Act maintains an increase in new work requirements and eligibility checks.
The Senate plan will force competent adults to qualify for benefits so that they can work 80 hours a month until age 65, but includes exemptions for parents of children under the age of 14 or children with disabilities.
– Savannah Kucha
The Senate proposed a $6,000 “bonus deduction” for people over the age of 65, but the eligibility would be $75,000 for a single filer and $150,000 for couples.
The deduction is available from 2025 to 2028, supplementing but not replacing the existing additional standard deductions already available to seniors. In 2025, one filer over the age of 65 can claim an additional $2,000, but married couples can file jointly to add $1,600 for each spouse over the age of 65, in addition to the standard deduction available to all taxpayers.
The House has agreed to a $4,000 bonus deduction with similar eligibility parameters and duration.
– Medra Lee
The Trump administration “strongly supports” the Senate version of the bill on June 28th in the White House management and the office of budget statements. The statement is not intended to support the Senate version over the House version of the particular provision, but is intended to signal Trump to sign it if approved by Congress. The two-page statement highlighted provisions regarding tax cuts, border security, energy and defense.
“President Trump has pledged to keep his promises and failing to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,” the statement said.
-Bart Jansen
You may have seen the Senate decision to launch a massive Trump-backed law debate labelled “procedural votes.” But what does that mean?
Not all votes in the House and Senate mean that Congress will sign the bill and send it to the president’s desk. Lawmakers may simply vote to begin the process of considering the law, or vote for amendments, rules of discussion, etc.
Following USA Today’s live coverage as they track the Senate’s path to the final vote.
– Marina Pitovsky
Republicans are calling for Senate members to be fired after they decide that they need to spell out the troubles of the president and his party when several Medicaid clauses are removed from Trump’s tax, spending and policy bills and are about to be signed by the July 4th Self-Issues.
Elizabeth McDonough, a key rule expert at the Chamber of Commerce, opposed the inclusion of a provision that the GOP wanted to put in a bill aimed at reducing Medicaid spending by demanding work from healthy adults and denying access to non-citizens.
That didn’t work with the deficit Hawks trying to secure for Trump for his biggest legislative victory in his second term.
For now, it appears that McDonough’s work is safe. Thune told reporters that the GOP had no plans to overturn lawmakers, and that needless to say they would fire her.
– Suddiksha Kochi
Why did Tillis and Paul refuse to support Trump’s bill? Paul, who played golf with Trump that afternoon, opposed the bill’s spending levels. Tillis has expressed concern about the state’s tens of millions of dollars in Medicaid cuts.
Trump threatened to find a major Republican opponent in Tillis in 2026.
Sen. R-Wisconsin, Sen. Ron Johnson, initially voted no to start debate. However, he flipped the vote at the last moment to force Vice President JD Vance to break what he had at hand.
Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Ramis of Wyoming and Rick Scott of Florida voted for the last time, each saying yes after a few hours of talks with leadership. Along the way, Lee rescinded the controversial provision that Sen. R-Montana threatened to oppose the law.
-Bart Jansen
Billionaire Elon Musk, a former Trump adviser on government spending cuts, fired another set of attacks on the president’s legislative package because it could kill millions of jobs.
Musk quieted his harsh criticism of Trump and his law the week after he left the government on May 30th. But he again condemned the bill as the Senate prepared to discuss it.
“The latest Senate bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause enormous strategic harm to our country!” Musk said on social media on June 28th. “It’s very insane and destructive. It’s seriously damaging future industries while giving handouts to past industries.”
Musk added another post warning the election risk GOP if he votes for Trump-backed laws that don’t vote for Republicans well.
-Bart Jansen
The biggest provisions in the law will extend expired tax cuts, create some new ones, and dramatically increase spending on border security.
The core of the law will extend Trump’s tax cuts in 2017, which is due to expire at the end of the year. Republicans said the defeat of the measure would lead to a $4 trillion increase in taxes over the next decade.
The new tax credits Trump has campaigned for will apply until 2028 to tips for employees such as waiters. The Senate concluded the deduction at $25,000, weakening the break for individuals earning more than $150,000.
For border security, the bill would increase approximately $150 billion in funding for the Department of Homeland Security. The bill approves $45 billion for the new detention center as Trump has increased arrests and increased $27 billion in a massive deportation campaign.
The important provisions would increase the amount the country could borrow $5 trillion. The country’s debt is already nearing $37 trillion, with Treasury Secretary Scott Bescent warning that current restrictions on borrowing will be reached in August. Kentucky’s Rand Paul, who has pending the Republican bill, said he would not vote for the bill unless the debt limit receives separate votes. But Republican leaders want to keep the unpopular votes throughout the packaging.
-Bart Jansen
