The US Senate has begun a marathon vote on a sprawling budget that is critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda, but the spending plan is hanging in the balance after weeks of fraught negotiations.Senators zipped through the halls of the Capitol on Monday, making their way to the chamber floor for various amendment votes, then back to their private meeting rooms where they hashed out grievances outside the view of reporters.
Senators are currently arguing for or against adding amendments to the nearly 1,000-page bill in a process called “vote-a-rama”, which could entail up to 20 hours of debate.
The session is expected to continue through the night into Tuesday morning.
“We’re still obviously perfecting a few things,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday.
An amendment to the proposal for Medicaid cuts recently proposed by Florida Senator Rick Scott could cause roughly 20 million Americans to lose their health insurance coverage, according to one estimate.
When asked about the report, Thune said there are “lots of analyses out there”.
Republicans – who control both chambers of Congress – are divided over how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend tax breaks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
The president’s party is sprinting to pass the legislation by this week’s self-imposed deadline of the Fourth of July public holiday.
If the measure does clear the Senate, it will have to go back for another vote to the House of Representatives, which passed its own version of the bill last month by a single vote.Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate, arguing for further changes to the legislation.
One of those Republicans, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and said the legislation broke promises that Trump and Republicans made to voters.
“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,” Tillis wrote in his announcement.
The White House reacted angrily to Tillis’ comments on Monday, with Leavitt telling reporters the senator is “just wrong” and that “the President and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right”.
The other Republican who voted against moving the bill was Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky. He objected to the debt increase, and cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare programme that is relied on by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.
On Monday, Senator Dan Sullivan, an Alaska Republican, sought to quell concerns about cuts to Medicaid, saying “we’re going to be fine in this”.
