The U.S. Senate has begun marathon voting on a massive budget, which is crucial to President Donald Trump’s agenda, but after weeks of negotiations, spending plans remain unresolved.
Republicans control both congressmen — the division of welfare cuts that extend tax breaks in the A Big Beauty Act.
The Presidential Party is sprinting to pass the self-imposed deadline for public holidays this week, July 4.
If the measure does clear the Senate, it will have to go back and vote with the House, which passed its own version of the bill last month with a vote.
Senators zipped in the hall of the Capitol on Monday, headed to the floor of the room for various amendments before returning to their private meeting room, where they gave up their dissatisfaction outside the journalist’s sight.
Senators are currently fighting or opposing the addition of amendments to the nearly 1,000-page bill in a process called “voting,” a process that could take up to 20 hours of debate.
The meeting is expected to last throughout the evening until Tuesday morning.
“We’re obviously still perfecting something,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday.
Florida Senator Rick Scott’s recent amendment to Medicaid cut proposals could roughly create 20 million Americans lose health insurance coverageaccording to an estimate.
When asked about the report, Thune said “there are a lot of analysis there.”
“What (Scott’s bill) doesn’t do is not going to work until 2031. So I’m not sure how to make an argument that will evacuate anyone from health insurance tomorrow,” Thun said.
Democrats who repeatedly condemned the bill, especially to reduce health insurance coverage for millions of poor Americans, are expected to use all the 10 hours of debate they allocated, and Republicans may not.
Adam Schiff, a California Democrat and long-time critic of Trump, called the bill “terrible.”
He told the BBC that he was not sure whether Senate Republicans would reach Trump’s pass deadline before celebrating Independence Day this Friday, adding that even if they did, “who knows what happened to the House.”
Speaking at the White House on Monday, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “confident” that the bill would pass and still expect to pass his self-imposed deadline on his desk.
Sen. John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, seemed frustrated on Monday afternoon, but there was no sign of the final draft of the bill.
“Oh my goodness, I just want to go home,” he said, adding that the extended negotiation and voting round made him miss the “whole beach trip.”
“I don’t think it’s very helpful to keep people here until an ungodly hour,” he said.
Democrats used political maneuvers to weaken the bill’s progress on Sunday, calling on Senate staff to read all 940 pages of the bill aloud, a process that took 16 hours.
The move comes after weeks of public discussions, when the Senate nearly stepped into the budget bill by 51-49 on the weekend.
Two Republicans supported the Democratic vote against the opening debate, advocating further changes to the legislation.
One of North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, one of the Republicans, Announced retirement The legislation violated Trump and the Republican Party’s commitment to voters following this vote.
“Too many elected officials are motivated by purely primitive politics, and they really don’t get angry at the people they promised to represent on the campaign,” Tillis wrote in the announcement.
The White House responded in anger to Tillis’ comments on Monday, with Levitt telling reporters that the Senators were “completely wrong” and that “the president and the vast majority of Republicans who support the legislation are right.”
Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against moving. He opposed debt increases and cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare program that is relied on by millions of seniors, disabled people and low-income Americans.
On Monday, Alaska Republican Dan Sullivan tried to calm concerns about Medicaid cuts and said “we will be fine in this regard.”
When the bill proposes a full vote – Republicans are expected to be able to bear three defections in Monday night or early Tuesday morning so that the bill can pass.
If they lose three votes, Vice President JD Vance will have to tie the seven votes.
The bill will then return to the House, with leadership recommending a full vote on the Senate bill, which may be conducted Wednesday morning.
While Republicans control the house, they can only lose a few votes. The Senate version of some Republicans in the House is frustrated that this may vote again.
The fiscal hawks of the Republican-led House Liberty Caucus threaten to redirect the Senate version of torpedoes amid budget divergence.
The group said in a social media article on Monday that the Senate proposals increased the national deficit by more than $6.5 billion.
“It’s not financial responsibility,” they said. “It’s not what we agree with.”
Democrats in both parliament largely opposed spending cuts and the extension of proposed tax breaks.
Meanwhile, Republican debate focused on how much of a cut to the welfare program to extend 3.8tn (2.8tn) in Trump’s tax break.
The proposed cuts could deprive nearly 12 million Americans of health insurance coverage and increase debt of 3.3tn (2.4tn) according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency.
The version of the bill Senator will soon vote on tax cuts on Trump’s campaign, such as tax breaks on Social Security benefits, and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.
The bill also authorizes new borrowings of $5, which will increase the inflation of the U.S. debt burden – a move that goes against the actions of many conservatives for protesting and angering Trump confidante Elon Musk.
Musk posted a social media post on Monday, vowing to anyone who voted to support the bill and establish an alternative party.
“If this crazy spending bill passes, the U.S. party will be formed the next day,” he wrote on X.
“Our country needs to replace the Democratic Party – public places so that people actually have voices.”
According to the Ministry of Finance, the current price of national debt is $36 trillion.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Congress to settle debt limits by mid-July and warned that if they don’t, the U.S. may not be able to pay its bills until August.
(Along with other reports from White House Bernd Debusmann Jr)
