U.S. Senate edges towards Trump’s divisive spending bill vote
‘The Trump Administration has gotten costs down, very substantially, for the American Consumer. There has never been anything like this!’
Joe Raedle/Getty Images/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
United States President Donald Trump signs a letter of congratulations as he meets with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Rwanda Olivier Nduhungirehe and the Foreign Minister of the Democratic Republic of the Congo Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner in the Oval Office at the White House. The meeting took place as a peace agreement brokered by the White House, which hopes to end a conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, was signed by officials of the two African nations. The leaders were also joined by Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
United States senators were inching Sunday towards a vote on Donald Trump’s “big beautiful” spending bill, a hugely divisive proposal that would deliver key parts of the US president’s domestic agenda while making massive cuts to social welfare programs.
Trump is hoping the “One Big Beautiful Bill” will help seal his legacy, extending his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of $4.5 trillion and beefing up border security.
But Republicans eyeing 2026 midterm congressional elections are divided over the package, which would strip health care from millions of the poorest Americans and add more than $3 trillion to the country’s debt.
The Senate formally opened debate on the bill late Saturday, after Republican holdouts delayed what should have been a procedural vote.
“ONE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, is moving along nicely! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!” Trump posted on Truth Social late Sunday.
“The Trump Administration has gotten costs down, very substantially, for the American Consumer. There has never been anything like this!”
Senators narrowly passed the motion to begin debate, with two Republicans joining 47 Democrats in voting against it — drawing sharp rebukes from Trump.
The US president has pushed his party to get the bill passed and on his desk for him to sign into law by 4 July, the United States’ Independence Day.
On Sunday, however, he seemed to cast doubt on that timeline, and accused the opposition Democrats of delaying proceedings for political reasons.
“There are a lot of bad people in the Democrat Party,” he told Fox News in an interview aired Sunday, berating his political opponents for not backing an increase to the debt ceiling.
Earlier, Trump’s tone had been even sharper.
“Republicans must remember that they are fighting against a very evil, corrupt and, in many ways, incompetent (Policywise!) group of people, who would rather see our Country ‘go down in flames’ than do the right thing,” he said on social media.
Democrats are bitterly opposed to the legislation and Trump’s agenda, and have vowed to hold up the debate. They began by insisting that the entirety of the roughly 1,000-page bill be read aloud to the chamber before the debate commenced.
If passed in the Senate, the bill would go back to the House for approval, where Republicans can only afford to lose a handful of votes — and are facing stiff opposition from within their own ranks.
On Sunday, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who opposes the bill, said he would not seek reelection next year, US media reported, after Trump excoriated him for his opposition to the spending plan.
Republicans are scrambling to offset the $4.5 trillion cost of Trump’s tax relief, with many of the proposed cuts to come from decimating funding for Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income Americans.