U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) speaks at a press conference following the U.S. Senate Republicans’ weekly policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 10, 2025.
Kent Nishimura | Reuters
The Senate on Saturday cleared a key procedural hurdle to advance President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” bringing the massive spending legislation one step closer to passage after weeks of painstaking negotiations.
The Senate vote delivered a boost for Republican Majority Leader John Thune’s bid to get the bill to Trump’s desk by July 4. But it was not without drama.
The vote on the motion to proceed was open for hours on Saturday night, and only passed after three Republican holdouts gave in and voted yes. The hours of uncertainty underscored the tricky path forward for the massive package.
The procedural vote tees up a final vote on the megabill in the Senate likely sometime Sunday or Monday.
Democrats, led by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, are forcing the 940-page bill to be read out loud once it heads to full debate on the Senate floor Sunday.
“We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it,” Schumer wrote Saturday on X.
While the package cannot officially pass the upper chamber until the final vote, the procedural vote was considered a big test for Thune.
The vote comes after weeks of turmoil and tension over the massive package that exposed bitter policy disputes and emboldened some firm Republican holdouts.
The sweeping domestic policy package will also have to be passed again in the House, which just narrowly passed its own version of the bill last month.
Some House Republicans have already expressed opposition to key elements of the Senate version of the bill — most notably deep cuts to Medicaid — likely foreshadowing a close vote in the lower chamber.
Both Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson hold narrow majorities in their respective chambers, meaning they can only afford to lose the support of a small number of Republican lawmakers to pass the package in a party-line vote.
Meanwhile, Trump continues to urge lawmakers to get the package passed before Republicans’ self-imposed July 4 deadline.
“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,” the White House said in a statement of administration policy on Saturday.
This is breaking news. Check back for updates.
