WASHINGTON – The Senate begins voting at 9 a.m. on President Donald Trump's package of legislative priorities as Republicans try to thread the needle for tax cuts, Medicaid reforms and border security funding with a narrow majority.
Senators spent June 29 debating the 940-page bill before embarking on what is expected to be dozens of amendments. The whirlwind voting process is nicknamed a "vote-a-rama," which could last hours.
If the Senate approves the bill, the House will begin voting on it July 2. Trump has asked Congress to send him the bill by July 4.
The legislation cleared a key hurdle late June 28, receiving a tight 51-49 vote in the Senate that took more than three and a half hours while a handful of Republicans negotiated with Senate leaders, Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
Still, that wasn't the final passage the bill needs to head to Trump's desk. Instead, after the vote, Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-New York, forced Senate clerks to read the entire 940-page bill rather than customarily waiving that chore.
Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, has said he is uncertain whether enough Republicans will support the final version of their bill to send it back to the House. Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the only Republican votes against debating the bill as written.
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