(The Center Square) – After working through the weekend, the U.S. Senate kicked off its grueling “vote-a-rama,” a marathon voting process where senators consider an endless stream of amendments to the Republicans’ sweeping tax and spending bill.
If U.S> Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., and Rand Paul, R-Ky., hold the line in opposing their party’s “big, beautiful bill,” Majority Leader Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., can only afford to lose one more Republican vote.
Tillis came out in strong opposition to President Donald Trump’s massive domestic policy bill over the weekend. Although Tillis said he supports the president’s tax and spending goals, he maintained that his party’s reconciliation bill is flawed in its approach to achieve these targets.
Tillis specifically criticized the bill’s Medicaid cuts, arguing that these provisions would devastate rural hospitals in his state.
After Trump vowed to back a primary challenge to Tillis on Saturday, the North Carolina senator announced that he would not seek reelection in 2026.
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has been an ardent critic of language in the Republican budget package that would boost the debt limit by $5 trillion. Paul says that although he supports the tax components of the bill, the debt limit provision is a deal breaker for him.
Some Republican senators who voted to advance the legislation in a procedural vote over the weekend may still vote against the bill in final passage. These senators, both moderate and conservative, have kept quiet Monday on what their decision will be.
Members of the Senate’s conservative GOP faction Sens. Ron Johnson, R-Wis, Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Mike Lee, R-Utah proposed an amendment to slash an additional $313 billion in federal Medicaid funding. Neither Johnson nor Scott have signaled whether they will support the bill if their amendment fails.
Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, two moderates who often vote in opposition to Trump, have not yet indicated how they will vote on final passage of the bill.
Murkowski is seeking an amendment that would delay the bill’s provision to phase out wind and solar tax credits. Meanwhile, Collins penned an amendment to increase rural hospital relief by increasing taxes on individuals who make more than $25 million a year.
The vote-a-rama is expected to continue through Monday evening and potentially into the early hours of Tuesday, after which a final vote will be called.
Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., has the House of Representatives on call to come back into session as early as Wednesday so that the budget package can be sent to President Trump’s desk by Independence Day.
