- Republicans Pass Trump’s Tax Bill
- Republicans, Democrats disagree over bill
- Trump hails passage of bill
Republicans in the United States Senate, on Tuesday, passed Donald Trump’s mega-bill on tax and spending following intense deliberations.
Eko Hot Blog reports that Trump had given the Republican-controlled Congress a deadline of July 4 to forward a final version of the bill to sign into law.
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According to the BBC, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act was passed with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote after more than 24 hours of debate. An earlier version was cleared by House Republicans by a single-vote margin.
“The bill as amended is passed,” Vance said, a moment that was met by applause among Senate Republicans, while Democrats sank into their seats and shook their heads in disapproval.
Disputes over the deficit, social programmes and spending levels had created challenges for Republicans, stalling progress and prompting Trump to concede it would be “very hard” to meet his deadline for passing the bill.
Despite efforts to galvanise the party, Senate Majority Leader John Thune lost three Republicans, Maine’s Susan Collins, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Kentucky’s Rand Paul, in the narrow vote.
The three Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against the bill.
After days of negotiations, Republican leaders were finally able to secure the support of Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, who had been withholding her support over concerns of the impact of cuts to Medicaid in her state.
Murkowski still appeared discontented with the bill, even after voting to support it, describing the process as “rushed” and under an “artificial timeline”.
“I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country”, Murkowski said, adding the process was “probably the most difficult and agonising legislative 24-hour period” of her career.
“My hope is that the House is going to look at this and recognise that we’re not there yet,” she told reporters just outside the Senate floor, moments after the vote.
The Alaska lawamaker’s support made the final Senate vote tally 50-50, and prompted Vance to step in to cast his tie-breaking vote.
However, during a visit to a migrant detention facility in Florida on Tuesday, Trump celebrated the passage of the bill.
He said, “It’s a great bill. There is something for everyone.”
The legislation, considered a cornerstone of Trump’s second-term agenda, would make permanent large tax cuts that were temporarily put in place when he was first in office.
To make up for the expected loss of revenue, Republicans have looked to cut spending in a wide range of programmes, including food subsidies and healthcare for lower-income Americans.
Democrats had attempted to flex their muscles by putting up procedural hurdles against the bill to delay its passage.
That included requiring Senate clerks to read all of the bill’s 940 pages aloud, and launching a lengthy debate process over proposed amendments.
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Following the development, the House Republicans would approve the changes made by the Senate before the president can sign the bill into law.
