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Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Sleepless in the Senate: Here's everything that went down inside the 24-hour ‘vote-a-rama'
John Fetterman was pissed off. Then again he started out that way, far before there was a hint that watching Republicans get to 51 votes on President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful' spending bill would take an over-24-hour marathon session in the Senate chamber. The Democratic Pennsylvania senator, who had lamented on camera a day earlier about not being able to join his family at the beach, had just heard his aide tell him eight more amendments remained. 'Eight f***in' more?' he exclaimed. 'You're kidding.' Because Fetterman wore his trademark Carhartt shirt and shorts rather than a suit and tie, he could not be on the Senate floor at that moment, very late Monday, er, make that early Tuesday. Time of day/night had become a blur by that point. That's a shame, I thought, because typically watching the floor activity is the one joy of the so-called vote-a-rama session where senators haggle over various provisions of a budget bill being passed under reconciliation. For someone who likes C-SPAN as much as I unashamedly admit I do, viewing such a wonky spectacle from the gallery is like a live concert. And that makes a vote-a-rama the legislative equivalent of the Eras Tour. That is if Taylor Swift played for nearly 27 hours. For those who have never covered a vote-a-rama, they are near equal parts consequential debate and kabuki theater. Republicans planned to pass the bill via budget reconciliation, which allows legislation to pass with a simple majority as long as it relates to spending. This leads to rapid fire introduction of amendments by either side. Republicans can push for amendments that otherwise could not pass in committee, while Democrats can try to introduce poison pill legislation to kill the bill. As senators filed in Monday morning, I caught Sen. Lisa Murkowski — hours before she would become the center of the rebellion against the bill's passage — to ask her about renewable energy efforts that are targeted for destruction in this bill. But the Alaska Republican was already in no mood to chat. 'I haven't decided whether to share comments with reporters this morning or not,' she said. 'You're the first one to ask me a question this morning, so you win the bonus round.' Anyone who has covered Murkowski recently can tell that the senior senator is fed up with having to answer for every little thing Trump says or does. If she had her druthers, she would focus on Native-Alaskan affairs, working on the budget and on energy policy. Just last week, Murkowski released her memoir in which she touted her independent streak. Oftentimes, she will try to avoid reporters or joke with them to avoid them asking hard questions. But after some thought, Murkowski gave a semi-substantive answer. 'I don't want to see us backslide on clean energy,' she told The Independent. Then the vote-a-rama kicked off. Early in the evening, Democrats felt that they might have a shot to sink the bill. Early-morning or late-night votes can often be dramatic. Look no further than the thumbs-down the late John McCain delivered that saved the Affordable Care Act during the first Trump administration. Democrats kept saying Republicans didn't have the votes or that the GOP was too divided. They also hoped to exploit some of those fissures as they offered amendment after amendment — all of which naturally failed — until they seemed to run out of steam. Then, Democrats switched to offering motions to recommit, a motion which would cause the legislation to be referred back the Senate committee of its jurisdiction. Eventually, Sen. John Kennedy, who despite being a graduate of Oxford often puts on a heavily affected Louisiana Cajun accent, complained about his Republican colleagues allowing Democrats to offer these motions, which were a futile effort because no number of Republicans would even think of sending these bills back to committee. 'We might as well have been standing around, sucking on our teeth.' he said. Kennedy wasn't wrong. But Republicans faced a bind. For one, they had to find a way to appease Murkowski and her fellow moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. In 2017, both joined McCain in his opposition to repeal the Affordable Care Act and they have considerable leverage. Collins had particular issue with the fact the bill put a cap on the amount that states could levy on provider taxes to raise money to receive matching Medicaid dollars. Rural hospitals could go under as a result since many of them rely on Medicaid recipients. To try and make up for that deficit to the hospitals, the bill created a $25 billion rural hospital fund. But Collins had an amendment to raise that amount to $50 billion. It didn't go well. Only 22 senators voted for it, and a majority of her Republican colleagues opposed it. One of the only Republicans who joined her was Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who had spent the past month wringing his hands about Medicaid cuts but ultimately decided to vote for the bill. When that failed, it looked like Collins would certainly join Tillis and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in opposing the bill. She later lamented that the Senate should have done two reconciliation bills instead of 'One Big, Beautiful Bill,' which Trump requested it be called. 'I think that would have been a better approach,' Collins told me as pulled a roll-around suitcase back to the Senate floor. That meant that everything hinged on Murkowski. Republicans had loaded up the bill with pork for her, including a way to shield Alaska from a provision that would require that the state shoulder the cost of SNAP and another that would prevent it from being hit by cuts to Medicaid. This led to Senate leadership frequently — and literally — cornering and badgering Murkowski. At one point, Thune, former majority leader McConnell, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo and fellow Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan had her cornered on the Senate floor. This led to a series of back-and-forths where Thune and reporters would zip back to his office. They lifted up their phones to get audio of the lanky beanpole Thune's soft-spoken tone as kept saying Republicans were close. Of course, doing a long-haul vote-a-rama calls for sustenance. At one point, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist who caucuses with the Democrats, was seen munching a bag of snacks, while Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona went to go see if the tacos his party ordered for catering were any good. (Note: As a Mexican-American who lives in D.C., I can tell you they will not be as good as anything found in Arizona). Gallego also was not buying that Republicans had a deal. 'If you have to stall this long, it means you have a shit bill,' he told me. Unsurprisingly, the longer senators went on, the more exhausted they got and the more caffeine was required. Shortly after my third or fourth caffeinated beverage, I ran into Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican former Auburn University head football coach, who told me, 'I'm braindead brother' as he sipped on some coffee. When Sen. Mike Lee of Utah proposed a rollback of renewable energy credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota had her arms folded in her fleece — not just because she helped craft those parts of the bill to combat climate change, but because Lee had spread disgusting conspiracy theories about the killing of her fellow Minnesotan, former statehouse speaker Melissa Hortman. Meanwhile, Thom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican who had clashed with Trump about the bill and then said he would not run for re-election, walked around like a man who had given his two weeks' notice and even spent time with progressive Democrats like Elizabeth Warren. The night into day also saw Warren and her former presidential rival Amy Klobuchar occasionally chatting. At one point, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner of Virginia made their way to hang out with Republican Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Kennedy. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Well, things anyway. Around the time some senators and reporters went to watch the sunrise, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas ordered his Republican colleagues breakfast from McDonald's, one of Trump's favorite fast food choices, according to HuffPost's Igor Bobic. No word if Trump made the fries himself. At that point, around 7 am, I was simultaneously crabby, too excited to go to sleep if I'd gone home anyway, tired, but also jittery from all the caffeine I ingested, so my editor sent me home. Unfortunately, just as I was leaving, Vice President J.D. Vance was arriving. As soon as that happened, I knew the GOP had the votes. Why bother the vice president to come break a tie otherwise? In the end, Collins, Tillis and Paul voted alone against the bill — but what I'd taken to calling the Denali Deal for Murkowski had galvanized the agreement for a 50-50 vote with Vance giving the 51st vote. Some may remark on why Murkowski joined leadership this time but it is fairly clear that she did not want to be remembered as another McCain, let alone another Mitt Romney and certainly not another Liz Cheney. Like the latter two, she is the child of a prominent Republican leader. But at her core, Murkowski wants to be remembered for looking out for Alaska's interests. And in her mind, that likely meant shielding her state from the bill's worst excesses. But her actions reveal the hollowness of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which now must be passed with the new amendments, by the House once again. Very few people on the Republican side can defend the cuts to safety-net programs, since it still balloons the deficit. Rather, they tout the items they pay for, even when it is still unpopular. For now, Republicans are speed-running through breaking all of the typical decorum rules of the world's supposedly greatest deliberative body in service of Trump. And it will take longer than a so-called Byrd Bath to wash out the stains from their parliamentary sins. Then again, maybe I'm just tired.
New York Times
03-07-2025
- New York Times
Corrections: July 3, 2025
An article on Wednesday about the Senate's vote-a-rama on President Trump's domestic policy bill, using information from Senate officials, referred incorrectly to the vote-a-rama session. It came close to breaking a record for the most recorded votes cast during such a session; it did not break that record. An article on Wednesday about the sentencing of a man who killed a paramedic in a random attack in 2022 referred incorrectly to Alison Russo at the time she was attacked. She was walking near her station in Astoria, Queens. She was not walking back to it. An article on Wednesday about the singer and songwriter Neil Sedaka misstated the release date of his last major compositional effort, 'Manhattan Intermezzo.' It was 2012, not 2016. Errors are corrected during the press run whenever possible, so some errors noted here may not have appeared in all editions. To contact the newsroom regarding correction requests, please email nytnews@ To share feedback, please visit Comments on opinion articles may be emailed to letters@ For newspaper delivery questions: 1-800-NYTIMES (1-800-698-4637) or email customercare@
Free Malaysia Today
02-07-2025
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
Senate vote-a-rama to pass Trump's US$3.3 trillion bill extends into second day
Beginning on Monday and ongoing for over 16 hours, it was still unclear how long the voting would last. (EPA Images pic) WASHINGTON : US Senate Republicans in the early hours of Tuesday morning were still trying to pass President Donald Trump's sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, despite divisions within the party about its expected US$3.3 trillion hit to the nation's debt pile. Senators were voting in a marathon session known as a 'vote-a-rama,' featuring a series of amendments by Republicans and the minority Democrats, part of the arcane process Republicans are using to bypass Senate rules that normally require 60 of the chamber's 100 members to agree on legislation. Beginning on Monday and ongoing for over 16 hours, it was still unclear how long the voting would last. Lawmakers said the process had been held up partly by the need to determine whether amendments complied with special budgetary rules. Shortly after midnight, Senate majority leader John Thune told reporters the vote-a-rama was 'hopefully on the home stretch and then we'll see where the votes are.' Republicans can afford to lose no more than three votes in either chamber to pass a bill the Democrats are united in opposition to. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released its assessment on Sunday of the bill's hit to the US$36.2 trillion U.S. debt pile. The Senate version is estimated to cost US$3.3 trillion, US$800 billion more than the version passed last month in the House of Representatives. Many Republicans dispute that claim, contending that extending existing policy will not add to the debt. Nonetheless, international bond investors see incentives to diversify out of the US treasury market. Democrats, meanwhile, hope the latest, eye-widening figure could stoke enough anxiety among fiscally minded conservatives to get them to buck their party, which controls both chambers of Congress. 'This bill, as we have said for months, steals people's healthcare, jacks up their electricity bill to pay for tax breaks for billionaires,' Democratic Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said in a speech to the Senate. Thune countered that the tax cuts will help families and small businesses as he defended spending reductions to social safety net programmes. He said Medicaid was growing at an unsustainable rate and there were some improvements and reforms to make it more efficient. The Senate narrowly advanced the tax cut, immigration, border and military spending bill in a procedural vote late on Saturday, voting 51-49 to open debate on the 940-page megabill. Trump wants the bill passed before the July 4 Independence Day holiday. Bill politics Amendments proposed by Democratic senators such as the proposed limiting cuts to Medicaid were rejected by the Republican majority. Embedded in the Senate Republicans' bill are several hot-button political issues, like a prohibition of Medicaid funding for a list of almost 30 medical procedures related to gender transition, as well as an increase of immigration-related funding for criminal and gang checks for unaccompanied migrant children, including examinations of 'gang-related tattoos' for children as young as 12 years old. Early on Tuesday, Democrats and Republicans voted down an attempt by Republican Senator Susan Collins to cushion the impact of Medicaid cuts on rural health facilities by doubling federal support to US$50 billion over five years and paying for the increase by raising the top federal tax rate. The measure still drew support from 18 Republicans. Elon Musk, formerly appointed by Trump to spearhead his government cost-cutting plan before the pair had a public falling-out in June over the budget bill, threatened on Monday to target Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm election. 'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!' Musk posted on X. He also reiterated his interest in a new political party and accused lawmakers in both parties of belonging to the 'porky pig party', a dig at government spending levels. The US chamber of commerce, which says the majority of its members are small businesses, backs the bill. However, John Arensmeyer, who represents more than 85,000 small enterprises at the Small Business Majority, cautioned that the business tax relief is currently skewed to the wealthiest top 5% of small businesses. Debt ceiling deadline The Republican measure contains a US$5 trillion debt ceiling increase – US$1 trillion more than the House's bill – but failure to pass some version would present lawmakers with a serious deadline later this summer, when the treasury department could come close to exhausting its borrowing authority and thus risk a devastating default. The debt limit increase has caused Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky to come out in opposition to the bill, joining fellow Republican Tillis, who decried its cuts to Medicaid and clean energy initiatives. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Senate bill would result in about 11.8 million additional uninsured people, surpassing estimates for the House's version. If the Senate succeeds in passing the bill, it will then go to the House, where members are also divided, with some angry about its cost and others worried about cuts to the Medicaid program. The megabill would extend the 2017 tax cuts that were Trump's main legislative achievement during his first term as president, cut other taxes and boost spending on the military and border security. Senate Republicans, who reject the budget office's estimates on the cost of the legislation, are set on using an alternative calculation method that does not factor in costs from extending the 2017 tax cuts. Outside tax experts, like Andrew Lautz from the nonpartisan think tank Bipartisan Policy Center, call it a 'magic trick'. Using this calculation method, the Senate Republicans' budget bill appears to cost substantially less and seems to save US$500 billion, according to the BPC analysis.
The Independent
02-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Sleepless in the Senate well: Late-night ball game, cornered holdout, partisan tacos and Trump's fave breakfast
John Fetterman was pissed off. Then again he started out that way, far before there was a hint that watching Republicans get to 51 votes on President Donald Trump's 'big beautiful' spending bill would take an over-24-hour marathon session in the Senate chamber. The Democratic Pennsylvania senator, who had lamented on camera a day earlier about not being able to join his family at the beach, had just heard his aide tell him eight more amendments remained. 'Eight f***in' more?' he exclaimed. 'You're kidding.' Because Fetterman wore his trademark Carhartt shirt and shorts rather than a suit and tie, he could not be on the Senate floor at that moment, very late Monday, er, make that early Tuesday. Time of day/night had become a blur by that point. That's a shame, I thought, because typically watching the floor activity is the one joy of the so-called vote-a-rama session where senators haggle over various provisions of a budget bill being passed under reconciliation. For someone who likes C-SPAN as much as I unashamedly admit I do, viewing such a wonky spectacle from the gallery is like a live concert. And that makes a vote-a-rama the legislative equivalent of the Eras Tour. That is if Taylor Swift played for nearly 27 hours. For those who have never covered a vote-a-rama, they are near equal parts consequential debate and kabuki theater. Republicans planned to pass the bill via budget reconciliation, which allows legislation to pass with a simple majority as long as it relates to spending. This leads to rapid fire introduction of amendments by either side. Republicans can push for amendments that otherwise could not pass in committee, while Democrats can try to introduce poison pill legislation to kill the bill. As senators filed in Monday morning, I caught Sen. Lisa Murkowski — hours before she would become the center of the rebellion against the bill's passage — to ask her about renewable energy efforts that are targeted for destruction in this bill. But the Alaska Republican was already in no mood to chat. 'I haven't decided whether to share comments with reporters this morning or not,' she said. 'You're the first one to ask me a question this morning, so you win the bonu round.' Anyone who has covered Murkowski recently can tell that the senior senator is fed up with having to answer for every little thing Trump says or does. If she had her druthers, she would focus on Native-Alaskan affairs, working on the budget and on energy policy. Just last week, Murkowski released her memoir in which she touted her independent streak. Oftentimes, she will try to avoid reporters or joke with them to avoid them asking hard questions. But after some thought, Murkowski gave a semi-substantive answer. 'I don't want to see us backslide on clean energy,' she told The Independent. Then the vote-a-rama kicked off. Early in the evening, Democrats felt that they might have a shot to sink the bill. Early-morning or late-night votes can often be dramatic. Look no further than the thumbs-down the late John McCain delivered that saved the Affordable Care Act during the first Trump administration. Democrats kept saying Republicans didn't have the votes or that the GOP was too divided. They also hoped to exploit some of those fissures as they offered amendment after amendment — all of which naturally failed — until they seemed to run out of steam. Then, Democrats switched to offering motions to recommit, a motion which would cause the legislation to be referred back the Senate committee of its jurisdiction. Eventually, Sen. John Kennedy, who despite being a graduate of Oxford often puts on a heavily affected Louisiana Cajun accent, complained about his Republican colleagues allowing Democrats to offer these motions, which were a futile effort because no number of Republicans would even think of sending these bills back to committee. 'We might as well have been standing around, sucking on our teeth.' he said. Kennedy wasn't wrong. But Republicans faced a bind. For one, they had to find a way to appease Murkowski and her fellow moderate Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. In 2017, both joined McCain in his opposition to repeal the Affordable Care Act and they have considerable leverage. Collins had particular issue with the fact the bill put a cap on the amount that states could levy on provider taxes to raise money to receive matching Medicaid dollars. Rural hospitals could go under as a result since many of them rely on Medicaid recipients. To try and make up for that deficit to the hospitals, the bill created a $25 billion rural hospital fund. But Collins had an amendment to raise that amount to $50 billion. It didn't go well. Only 22 senators voted for it, and a majority of her Republican colleagues opposed it. One of the only Republicans who joined her was Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, who had spent the past month wringing his hands about Medicaid cuts but ultimately decided to vote for the bill. When that failed, it looked like Collins would certainly join Tillis and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky in opposing the bill. She later lamented that the Senate should have done two reconciliation bills instead of 'One Big, Beautiful Bill,' which Trump requested it be called. 'I think that would have been a better approach,' Collins told me as pulled a roll-around suitcase back to the Senate floor. That meant that everything hinged on Murkowski. Republicans had loaded up the bill with pork for her, including a way to shield Alaska from a provision that would require that the state shoulder the cost of SNAP and another that would prevent it from being hit by cuts to Medicaid. This led to Senate leadership frequently — and literally — cornering and badgering Murkowski. At one point, Thune, former majority leader McConnell, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo and fellow Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan had her cornered on the Senate floor. This led to a series of back-and-forths where Thune and reporters would zip back to his office. They lifted up their phones to get audio of the lanky beanpole Thune's soft-spoken tone as kept saying Republicans were close. Of course, doing a long-haul vote-a-rama calls for sustenance. At one point, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist who caucuses with the Democrats, was seen munching a bag of snacks, while Democrat Ruben Gallego of Arizona went to go see if the tacos his party ordered for catering were any good. (Note: As a Mexican-American who lives in D.C., I can tell you they will not be as good as anything found in Arizona). Gallego also was not buying that Republicans had a deal. 'If you have to stall this long, it means you have a shit bill,' he told me. Unsurprisingly, the longer senators went on, the more exhausted they got and the more caffeine was required. Shortly after my third or fourth caffeinated beverage, I ran into Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the Republican former Auburn University head football coach, who told me, 'I'm braindead brother' as he sipped on some coffee. When Sen. Mike Lee of Utah proposed a rollback of renewable energy credits in the Inflation Reduction Act, Sen. Tina Smith of Minnesota had her arms folded in her fleece — not just because she helped craft those parts of the bill to combat climate change, but because Lee had spread disgusting conspiracy theories about the killing of her fellow Minnesotan, former statehouse speaker Melissa Hortman. Meanwhile, Thom Tillis, the North Carolina Republican who had clashed with Trump about the bill and then said he would not run for re-election, walked around like a man who had given his two weeks' notice and even spent time with progressive Democrats like Elizabeth Warren. The night into day also saw Warren and her former presidential rival Amy Klobuchar occasionally chatting. At one point, Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California, Mark Kelly of Arizona, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Mark Warner of Virginia made their way to hang out with Republican Sens. Mike Rounds of South Dakota and Kennedy. But, alas, all good things must come to an end. Well, things anyway. Around the time some senators and reporters went to watch the sunrise, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas ordered his Republican colleagues breakfast from McDonald's, one of Trump's favorite fast food choices, according to HuffPost's Igor Bobic. No word if Trump made the fries himself. At that point, around 7 am, I was simultaneously crabby, too excited to go to sleep if I'd gone home anyway, tired, but also jittery from all the caffeine I ingested, so my editor sent me home. In the end, Collins, Tillis and Paul voted alone against the bill — but what I'd taken to calling the Denali Deal for Murkowski had galvanized the agreement for a 50-50 vote with Vance giving the 51st vote. Some may remark on why Murkowski joined leadership this time but it is fairly clear that she did not want to be remembered as another McCain, let alone another Mitt Romney and certainly not another Liz Cheney. Like the latter two, she is the child of a prominent Republican leader. But at her core, Murkowski wants to be remembered for looking out for Alaska's interests. And in her mind, that likely meant shielding her state from the bill's worst excesses. But her actions reveal the hollowness of the One Big Beautiful Bill, which now must be passed with the new amendments, by the House once again. Very few people on the Republican side can defend the cuts to safety-net programs, since it still balloons the deficit. Rather, they tout the items they pay for, even when it is still unpopular. For now, Republicans are speed-running through breaking all of the typical decorum rules of the world's supposedly greatest deliberative body in service of Trump. And it will take longer than a so-called Byrd Bath to wash out the stains from their parliamentary sins. Then again, maybe I'm just tired.
New York Times
01-07-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
Senate Breaks Vote-a-Rama Record Before Passing Trump's Domestic Bill
Just after sunrise on Tuesday, the Senate began its 45th consecutive vote to continue seeking changes to President Trump's massive domestic policy package, setting a record for the biggest so-called vote-a-rama in Senate history. In all, senators voted 49 times, surpassing a record set in March 2008 during a budget debate. The voting lasted roughly 27 hours, from shortly after 9 a.m. Monday to minutes after noon on Tuesday. It's not clear if that, too, was a record; the Senate does not track that figure. Mr. Trump has directed lawmakers to deliver the bill to his desk by the Fourth of July, a deadline which all but required the marathon session of amendment votes, a process unique to the Senate that lets any member offer unlimited changes. With three Republicans joining Democrats to oppose the final version, Vice President JD Vance cast the deciding vote to pass it. But Republicans substantially changed the bill from the version delivered to them by the House, so it will now move back there to be considered for final passage. There is no vote-a-rama in the House. Instead, the prep work happens in the Rules Committee before the bill makes its way to the floor for final passage. That process is also known to drag on for hours: In late May, Representative Virginia Foxx, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the committee, oversaw a meeting that lasted nearly 22 hours. The previous record for amendment votes was set on March 13, 2008, during a budget fight over fiscal year 2009 as lawmakers argued over tax cuts, spending and procedural rules under the Congressional Budget Act. That session had 44 votes.
