PRESIDENT TRUMP‘s “big, beautiful bill” cleared the Senate by the barest margin possible Tuesday, setting up a final uncertain path through the House with the clocking ticking toward a July 4 deadline.
Vice President Vance broke a 50-50 tie in the Senate after a grueling all-night “vote-a-rama,” where momentum for the bill seemed to rise and fall by the hour.
In the end, three Republicans voted against it: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) cited cuts to Medicaid, while Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) opposed it on spending and debt concerns.
The bill ultimately passed after Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) made concessions to a fourth holdout, Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who sought to shield her home state from the full brunt of cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
“This is probably the most difficult and agonizing legislative 24-hour period that I have encountered, and I’ve been here quite a while and you know I’ve got a few battle scars underneath me,” Murkowski said.
Trump received news of the bill’s passage while he was visiting a new migrant detention facility dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades. The president was cheered by his allies during a roundtable discussion.
“Oh, thank you. Wow,” Trump said. “I was also wondering, how we doing because I know this is prime time. It shows that I care about you, because I’m here and I probably should be there, but we do care. Thank you very much.”
It’s big victory for Trump, as it brings his package of tax cuts and border security funding one step closer to final passage, although Democrats are primed to seize on the cuts to Medicaid during the 2026 midterms.
The passage of the megabill marks the largest cuts to the social safety net program since its inception in the 1960s. Federal work requirements will be imposed for the first time.
Democrats will have plenty of ammunition provided by the GOP holdouts.
“My vote against this bill stems primarily from the harmful impact it will have on Medicaid, affecting low-income families and rural health care providers like our hospitals and nursing homes,” Collins said in a statement.
Two days earlier, Tillis gave a scorching floor speech denouncing the Medicaid cuts, shortly before announcing he would retire from Congress.
“The Senate’s Medicaid approach breaks promises and will kick people off of Medicaid who truly need it,” Tillis said.
Trump dismissed the concerns, insisting the cuts deal primarily to waste, fraud and abuse.
“I’m saying [cuts are] going to be a very much smaller number than that and that number is going to be waste, fraud and abuse,” Trump said.
HOUSE BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
The bill now heads to the House, where Republicans have been fuming about the big changes made to their bill in the upper chamber.
The House Rules Committee began work on the bill at 1:30 p.m.
Democrats will be looking to delay the process.
“All procedural and legislative options are on the table,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) told reporters.
The same dynamics that have divided Republicans over the monthslong negotiations are still in play, with different factions opposed to the spending, debt levels and cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.
The Hill’s Mychael Schnell captures the dynamic, noting“Moderate Republicans and hardline conservatives in the House are expressing increasing opposition to the Senate’s version of the ‘big, beautiful bill'” this week ahead of the lower chamber considering the bill, “a daunting dynamic for GOP leaders as they race to meet their self-imposed Friday deadline.”
Speaker Johnson (R-La.), who shepherded the original bill through the House, said he expects to have the bill on Trump’s desk by July 4.
“Republicans were elected to do exactly what this bill achieves: secure the border, make tax cuts permanent, unleash American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, cut wasteful spending, and return to a government that puts Americans first,” Johnson posted on X.
“This bill is President Trump’s agenda, and we are making it law,” he continued. “House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump’s desk in time for Independence Day.”
Trump said he thought House passage would be easier than it was in the Senate.
“It’s a great bill, there is something for everyone and I think its going to go very nicely in the House,” he said. “Actually, I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.”
House Republicans can only afford three defections in a caucus of 218 members or the vote will fail. The original House bill passed by only one vote.
“You’ve got things in here that moderates don’t like, and you’ve got things in here that conservatives don’t like. So, it is certainly going to be a challenge,” Rep. Greg Steube (R-Fla.) told NewsNation’s Blake Burman.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a fiscal hawk, called the Senate’s changes a “travesty.”
TRUMP VS. MUSK
It’s round two of the slugfest between Trump and Elon Musk over the “big, beautiful bill.”
The tech titan has been railing against the spending and debt the bill will create, warning passage would be akin to “political suicide” for the GOP.
Musk pledged to support primary challenges against any Republican who backs the bill, while saying he’ll donate to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who Trump is seeking to oust from office for opposing the bill.
Trump made retaliatory threats, saying he’d “take a good, hard” look at federal subsidies utilized by Musk’s companies.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“Without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa. No more Rocket launches, Satellites, or Electric Car Production, and our Country would save a FORTUNE. Perhaps we should have DOGE take a good, hard, look at this? BIG MONEY TO BE SAVED!!!”
Tesla shares were down about 5 percent in the afternoon.
💡Perspectives:
•Randy Feenstra: Trump agenda bill would secure Southern border.
New York state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani officially won the Democratic nomination for New York City mayor after the completion of the ranked choice tabulation, Decision Desk HQ projects.
Trump lauds facility: ‘Cops in the form of alligators’
President Trump toured “Alligator Alcatraz” on Tuesday, a new migrant detention facility situated at a remote site in the Florida Everglades.
The facility, at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport inside the Big Cypress National Preserve, will house up to 5,000 beds to serve as a processing point for migrants who will be deported.
The facility is surrounded by “dangerous wildlife and unforgiving terrain,” the White House said, making the potential for escape difficult.
“We have a lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators. You don’t have to pay them so much,” Trump told reporters as he toured the facility with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
“I wouldn’t want to run through the Everglades for long. We’ll keep people where they’re supposed to be,” Trump added.
DeSantis called the facility a “model” for other states.
Trump praised DeSantis, his one-time rival for the GOP presidential nomination.
“You’re my friend, you’ll always be my friend, and we may have some skirmishes even in the future, I doubt it, but we’ll always come back because we have blood that seems to match pretty well,” Trump said. “We have a relationship that has been a strong one for a very long time and I appreciate it.”
The Miami Heraldhas a profile of the citizens who live near the site in the Everglades.
MEANWHILE…
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on Tuesday blamed Trump’s tariffs for the pair’s standoff over interest rates, saying he likely would have lowered rates already if not for forecasts of economic shock from the trade war.
When asked if Trump’s tariffs held up the Fed’s plan to cut interest rates, Powell responded: “I think that’s right.”
“We went on hold when we saw the size of the tariffs. … All inflation forecasts for the United States went up materially as a consequence of the tariffs,” Powell said at a central banking conference in Portugal.
The U.S. has so far avoided the forecasted inflation, although Powell said he’s expecting to see higher inflation over the summer. The Fed expects to lower rates later this year, Powell said.
Trump has been publicly railing against Powell, accusing him of playing politics by lowering rates while former President Biden was in office.
ELSEWHERE…
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) has “officially cease[d] to implement foreign assistance,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Tuesday.
In a Substack post, Rubio said USAID had failed its central mission of promoting America’s interests abroad and instead created “a globe-spanning NGO industrial complex at taxpayer expense.”
“This era of government-sanctioned inefficiency has officially come to an end,” Rubio wrote.
“Under the Trump Administration, we will finally have a foreign funding mission in America that prioritizes our national interests,” he added.
U.S. foreign assistance programs will now be run through the State Department.
Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama decried the shuttering of the agency, which had been an early target of Elon Musk’s efforts to root out government waste and fraud through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
Bush said USAID had saved millions of lives through its philanthropic missions.
“Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live?” Bush asked. “I think it is, and so do you.”
Obama called the shuttering of the agency a “colossal mistake.”
“Gutting USAID is a travesty, and it’s a tragedy,” Obama said.
“It’s some of the most important work happening anywhere in the world,” he added.
💡Perspectives:
•The Atlantic: Liberals are going to keep losing at the Supreme Court.
• Washington Post: How Trump’s near miss coincided with Biden’s last stand.
• Vanity Fair: Trump’s governing style mimics the mob.
• USA Today: Trump is winning when it matters the most.
• The Hill: Is ‘No Kings’ a new Tea Party in the making?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will meet with President Trump at the White House next week to discuss the fragile truce with Iran and negotiations over Hamas-held hostages in Gaza.
Trump and Netanyahu are expected to meet Monday, in the aftermath of the 12-day war between Israel and Iran. The U.S. briefly joined the conflict, launching a surprise bombing attack against three Iranian nuclear sites. A fragile ceasefire has largely held in place since then, as the U.S. seeks a broader agreement with Iran over its nuclear program.
“We’re going to talk about a lot of things,” Trump told reporters Tuesday while leaving the White House for Florida. “ We’re going to talk about the great success we had… in Iran, we had an incredible success.”
The leaders are also expected to discuss Israel’s continued bombardment of Gaza and strategize over the release of the remaining hostages held there.
• Former Rep. Colin Allred (D-Texas) launched another campaign for Senate on Tuesday, hoping to take advantage of the nasty GOP primary fight between Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) and state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
“Politicians like John Cornyn and Ken Paxton are too corrupt to care about us and too weak to fight for us,” Allred said in his announcement. “I know Washington is broken. The system is rigged, but it doesn’t have to be this way.”
The former professional football player ran against Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) last year, falling short by about 8 points.
Democrats have entered recent election cycles optimistic about their chances of winning statewide in Texas, but have failed to make up much new ground. A Texas Democrat last won a statewide election in Texas in 1994.
Trump carried Texas by 9 points in 2016, by 5.6 points in 2020, and by 13.6 points in 2024.
Former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) nearly toppled Cruz in 2018, but ultimately fell short by less than 3 points, or about 215,000 votes.
