Republicans may get their law, but Democrats are making them work for it.
After hours of wrangling for votes, the Senate narrowly cleared the first procedural hurdle on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act late Saturday night. The razor-thin win brought President Donald Trump one step closer to his goal of signing the legislation by Independence Day, but it was just a single, hard-fought step. Many more remain, and the path isn’t getting any easier.
The Struggle Is Real
The US Senate convened at 2 p.m. Eastern to discuss and – Republicans hoped – vote on a motion “to proceed to the consideration of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” The roll was eventually called at 7:31 p.m. After several hours of negotiations – much of which was spent with the tally at a 47-50 standstill – the measure passed 51-49 after the final three GOP holdouts said “yea” and one “nay” Republican changed his vote.
As expected, every Democrat opposed the bill – and, just as unsurprisingly, Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC), Ron Johnson (R-WI), and Rand Paul (R-KY) joined them. For most of the hours-long roll call, the fate of the bill seemed to hang on Sens. Rick Scott (R-FL), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY).
After much cajoling by Vice President JD Vance, the last three votes came relatively close together – and rather than require the VP to step in and break the tie, Sen. Johnson flipped from nay to yea. And so, finally, after many tense hours on the floor, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act achieved its first successful vote in the Senate. President Donald Trump lauded the achievement, writing on Truth Social: “Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate with the ‘GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,’ but, it wouldn’t have happened without the Fantastic Work of Senator Rick Scott, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Ron Johnson, and Senator Cynthia Lummis.”
That’s a wrap, right – time to go home? Not even close.
It’s a Narrow Victory – And Just the Beginning
This new version of the package, rewritten to address the many measures Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough said violated the Byrd Rule, was released at midnight Saturday morning. And if the GOP thought Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) was going to channel Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and say, “We have to pass the bill so you can find out what’s in it,” they were sadly mistaken. The upper chamber’s top Democrat forced a reading of the full bill on the floor just minutes after the roll call concluded. Narrating a 940-page legislation is no mean feat; senators have been in the process now since before midnight and are still going.
The GOP’s goal with last night’s procedural vote was to kick off the debate period, which could last as long as ten hours if every senator uses all of his or her time. Democrats, of course, are expected to do just that; Republicans, on the other hand, will likely forfeit much of theirs in the name of speeding up the process. Inevitably, however, the vote on final passage will be called. At such a time, if all the ballots fall as they did before, the Senate will pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act with just as thin a margin as the House passed its own version.
But even then, the process isn’t over. No, even without having to rewrite to appease the parliamentarian, the Senate’s version was significantly different from the one that cleared the House 215-214 after yet another all-nighter at about 6:30 a.m. on May 22. As such, it will have to go back to the lower chamber, where representatives who barely passed it to begin with must agree to accept the changes. Will President Trump have something to sign before July 4? Possibly – but it will be tight. And if it does happen, this won’t have been the last all-nighter required to pull it off.
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