WASHINGTON: US senators on Saturday (Jun 28) began debating 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 programmes.
Trump is hoping to seal his legacy with the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which would extend his expiring first-term tax cuts at a cost of US$4.5 trillion and beef 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 US$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 – drawing Trump’s ire on social media.
Senators narrowly passed the motion to begin debate, 51-49, hours after the vote was first called, with Vice President JD Vance joining negotiations with holdouts from his own party.
Ultimately, two Republican senators joined 47 Democrats in voting “nay” on opening debate.
Trump has pushed his party to get the Bill passed and on his desk for him to sign into law by Jul 4, the United States’ independence day.
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 Bill be read aloud to the chamber before the debate commences.
The Bill is roughly 1,000 pages long and will take an estimated 15 hours to read.
“Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the Bill,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor. We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it.”
