US Senate voting on Donald Trump's ‘One Big Beautiful Bill' Act LIVE: JD Vance arrives to cast ‘tie-breaking' vote

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14 hours ago

'Big Beautiful Bill' vote LIVE Updates: The United States Senate voted on President Donald Trump's much touted tax and budget proposal, dubbed as the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' Act today (late Saturday local time), according to reports.
After the Senate vote, which pushed through 51-49, Donald Trump took to social media to celebrate. 'Tonight we saw a great victory in the Senate with the 'Great Big Beautiful Bill'', he wrote.
Further, he credited Republican lawmakers for pushing the bill, adding: 'Victory in the Senate wouldn't have happened without the work of Senate Rick Scott, Senate Mike Lee, Senate Ron Johnson, and Senate Cynthia Lummis.'
On Truth Social, Donald Trump wrote: '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. They, along with all of the other Republican Patriots who voted for the Bill, are people who truly love our Country!'
'As President of the USA, I am proud of them all, and look forward to working with them to GROW OUR ECONOMY, REDUCE WASTEFUL SPENDING, SECURE OUR BORDER, FIGHT FOR OUR MILITARY/VETS, ENSURE THAT OUR MEDICAID SYSTEM HELPS THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT, PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD BLESS AMERICA &, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!'
Notably, this is the same contentious bill that led to the public falling out and making up between Donald Trump an billionaire Elon Musk after he moved out of the administration's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Earlier, US Vice President JD Vance arrived to cast his vote, which is reportedly the 'tie-breaking' ballot, reports added.
The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous night that draggdragged for more than three hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations, and took private meetings off the floor. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to proceed, joining all Democrats.
Donald Trump reportedly told Republicans to skip their holidays and deliver the bill by July 4. Senators were working through the weekend to pass the bill and send it back to the House for a final vote. Democrats are united against it.
Republicans are pushing forward with a 'rare' Saturday process in order to pass the 'tax bill', which includes Donald Trump's package of tax breaks, spending cuts and bolstered deportation funds, by his July Fourth deadline, according to an AP report.
The report added that Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but face some internal division. Not all are agreeable to the tax cuts towards food stamps, Medicaid and other programs in order to dole out Trump's $3.8 trillion tax breaks, it added.
In a statement before the voting process began, the White House said it 'strongly supports passage' of the bill that 'implements critical aspects' of the president's agenda.
Donald Trump himself was at his golf course in Virginia; while Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Republican – South Dakota, wrote on X, 'It's time to get this legislation across the finish line.'
Meanwhile, Elon Musk has renewed his criticim of Donald Trump's tax plan in a scathing post on social media platform X. He called the bill 'utterly insane and destructive.'
'The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!' he added.
New York's Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer criticised the bill being tabled in a hurry, accusing the Republicans of dropping the bill 'in the dead of night' and are rushing to finish the bill before the public fully knows what's in it, AP reported.
Notably, the 940-page bill was near midnight on June 27 (Friday), and senators are expected to pull all-night debates and amendments before it is passed in a few days. The report added that Senate passage could be days away, and the bill would need to return to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.
Republicans hold narrow majorities in the House and Senate, and thus need almost every lawmaker to unite in order to beat opposition from Democrats.
The point of contention for dissenting Republicans is that funding for Donald Trump's bill is proposed from cuts to some services such as food stamps and Medicaid, and they feel the cuts go too far, the AP report said. Some others argue that the hit to national debt would be immense and are pushing for steeper cuts.
R-North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis said he is concerned over fundamentals of the package and will not support the procedural motion to begin debate.
R-Kentucky Senator Rand Paul opposes the measure to raise the nation's debt limit by $5 trillion.
R-Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson is pushing for deeper cuts, said he needed to see the final legislative text.
R-Montana Senator Tim Sheehy said he would agree to proceeding to the bill only after being assured a provision for public lands sales he opposes would be taken out with an amendment.
As per the report, an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office showed that the House-passed version of Trump's tax bill would cost around 10.9 million more people their healthcare, and at least 3 million food aid. Estimates on the Senate draft, which proposes steeper cuts, are not yet out from the CBO.
Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600, the CBO said.