BBC News
Getty ImagesThe US Senate is holding a marathon vote on a sprawling budget that is critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda, but the spending plan hangs in the balance after weeks of fraught negotiations.
Republicans – who control both chambers of Congress – are split over how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend tax breaks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s former close aid Elon Musk has again attacked the legislation, which the president’s party is sprinting to pass by 4 July.
If measures clear the Senate, it will have to go back for another vote to the House of Representatives, which passed its own version of the bill last month by a single vote.
Senators are currently arguing for or against adding amendments to the nearly 1,000-page bill in a process called “vote-a-rama”, which could entail up to 20 hours of debate.
The session is expected to continue through the night into Tuesday morning and the legislation, if passed, would also reduce some welfare programmes and increase the national debt.
Elon Musk has stepped up his criticism of the US president’s tax and spending bill, condemning it as “insane”.
He vowed to challenge any Republican who “campaigned on reducing government spending” and then “immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history”.
The national debt currently sits at $36 trillion, according to the treasury department. If passed, the bill would add $3.3tn to that debt, according to new estimates.
Musk also, once again, threatened to set up a new political party.
Trump suggested Doge, the Department of Government Efficiency – which Musk used to head – should take a look at cutting the subsidies that Tesla CEO’s companies have received.
“Elon may get more subsidy than any human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close up shop and head back home to South Africa,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
On Monday, senators made their way to the Capitol chamber floor for various amendment votes, then back to their private meeting rooms where they hashed out grievances outside the view of reporters.
An amendment to the proposal for Medicaid cuts recently put forward by Florida Senator Rick Scott could cause roughly 20 million Americans to lose their health insurance coverage, according to one estimate.
“The thing that [Scott’s] bill doesn’t do is it doesn’t take effect until 2031. So I’m not sure how you can make the argument that it’s going to kick any people off of health insurance tomorrow,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said.
Democrats, who have repeatedly denounced the bill, particularly for cutting health insurance for millions of poorer Americans, are expected to use all 10 of their allotted hours of debate, while Republicans probably won’t.
Democrat Senator Adam Schiff called the bill “terrible” and told the BBC he was unsure if Senate Republicans would meet Trump’s Friday deadline.
Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump is “confident” the bill would be passed and still expects it on his desk by 4 July.
On Sunday, Democrats used a political manoeuvre to stall the bill’s progress, calling on Senate clerks to read all 940 pages of the bill aloud, a process that took 16 hours.
It followed weeks of public discussion and the Senate narrowly moving on the budget bill in a 51-49 vote over the weekend.
Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate, arguing for further changes to the legislation.
One of those Republicans, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and said the legislation broke promises that Trump and Republicans made to voters.
“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,” Tillis wrote in his announcement.
The White House reacted angrily to Tillis’ comments, with Leavitt saying Tillis was “just wrong”.
Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul objected to the debt increase, and cuts to Medicaid.
During the full Senate vote on the bill – expected early Tuesday morning – Republicans can only afford three defections in order for the bill to pass.
If they lose three votes, Vice-President JD Vance will have to cast a tie-breaking vote.
The bill would then return to the House of Representatives, where leadership has advised a full vote on the Senate’s bill could come as early as Wednesday morning.
Fiscal hawks of the Republican-led House Freedom Caucus have threatened to torpedo the Senate version over budget disagreements.
The Senate proposal adds over $650bn to the national deficit, the group said in a post on social media on Monday.
“That’s not fiscal responsibility,” they said. “It’s not what we agreed to.”
Democrats in both chambers have largely objected to the spending cuts and the proposed extension of tax breaks.
Meanwhile, Republican debate has focused on how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend $3.8tn (£2.8tn) in Trump tax breaks.
Proposed cuts could strip nearly 12 million Americans of their health insurance coverage and add $3.3tn (£2.4tn) in debt, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan federal agency.
(With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr at the White House)
