The Senate slogged through a tense overnight session that has now dragged into Tuesday morning, with Republican leaders searching for ways to secure support for President Donald Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts while fending off proposed amendments, mostly from Democrats trying to defeat the package.
An endgame appeared to be taking shape. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota spent the night reaching for last-minute agreements between those in his party worried the bill’s reductions to Medicaid will leave millions without care and his most conservative flank, which wants even steeper cuts to hold down deficits ballooning with the tax cuts.
It’s a pivotal moment for the Republicans, who have control of Congress and are racing to wrap up work with just days to go before Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. The 940-page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as it’s formally titled, has consumed Congress as its shared priority with the president.
Here’s the latest:
Trump responds to Elon Musk’s criticism of tax cut and spending bill
Trump said the billionaire could lose a lot more than the electrical vehicle subsidies that would be eliminated if the measure becomes law.
“We might have to put DOGE on Elon,” Trump told reporters as he left the White House for a trip to Florida. “DOGE is the monster that might have to go back and eat Elon.”
DOGE is the Department of Government Efficiency. Trump put Musk in charge of DOGE to cut government spending. Musk owns an electric vehicle company and a space company and has lucrative federal government contracts.
Senate strikes AI provision from GOP bill after uproar from the states
The proposal to deter states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade was soundly defeated in the Senate on Tuesday, thwarting attempts to insert the measure into President Trump’s big bill of tax breaks and spending cuts.
The Senate voted 99-1 to strike the AI provision for the legislation after weeks of criticism from both Republican and Democratic governors and state officials.
Originally proposed as a 10-year ban on states doing anything to regulate AI, lawmakers later tied it to federal funding so that only states that backed off on AI regulations would be able to get subsidies for broadband internet or AI infrastructure.
▶ Read more about the proposal on AI regulation
Senate ‘vote-o-rama’ for Trump’s big bill already among longest-running in modern times
The all-night session has been grinding on for nearly 24 hours, having started at roughly 9:30 a.m. on Monday.
Senators have voted on more than three dozen amendments so far. More voting is likely.
The marathon voting session is part of the cumbersome process Republicans are using to try and pass the bill with a simple majority.
Republicans are letting the process drag on as they try to lock up last-minute agreements to push the bill to passage. For now, the Senate floor is at a standstill.
