The United States Senate has officially opened debate on President Donald Trump’s controversial spending package, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” which aims to cement key parts of his domestic agenda while making sweeping cuts to social welfare programs.
Senators debated late into Saturday night and into early Sunday morning, discussing the bill’s wide-ranging implications.
The proposal seeks to extend Trump’s first-term tax cuts worth $4.5 trillion and enhance border security measures.
However, it has sharply divided Republicans, with some lawmakers concerned about the political risks ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
If passed, the bill would significantly alter America’s fiscal landscape, stripping healthcare access from millions of low-income Americans and adding over $3 trillion to the national debt.
Despite internal opposition, the Senate managed to narrowly pass a motion to begin debate, voting 51–49 after delays caused by dissenting Republicans.
Vice President JD Vance took part in last-minute negotiations with GOP holdouts. In the end, two Republican senators joined 47 Democrats in voting against opening the floor.
Reacting to the development, Trump expressed satisfaction in a post on his Truth Social platform:
“Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate.”
In an earlier post, he lashed out at critics within and outside his party:
“Republicans must remember that they are fighting against a very evil, corrupt and, in many ways, incompetent (Policywise!) group of people, who would rather see our Country ‘go down in flames’ than do the right thing.”
Democrats, meanwhile, have voiced strong opposition to the bill and are using procedural tactics to delay its progress.
They insisted that the entire legislation, about 1,000 pages, be read aloud on the Senate floor, a process expected to take approximately 15 hours.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said:
“Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill. 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.”
The bill still faces major hurdles in the House, where Republicans have a slim majority and internal divisions persist.
Lawmakers are scrambling to balance the bill’s massive cost by proposing deep cuts to Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income Americans.
These cuts would threaten the survival of many rural hospitals and result in an estimated 8.6 million people losing healthcare coverage.
In addition to healthcare cuts, the bill would eliminate many renewable energy tax credits introduced under former President Joe Biden.
The move has drawn sharp criticism from both progressives and prominent conservatives.
Tech mogul and former Trump advisor Elon Musk, who recently had a public falling out with the president, called the bill:
“Utterly insane and destructive.”
“It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,” Musk added.
Independent policy analysts warn the bill could lead to a significant redistribution of wealth—from the poorest 10 percent of Americans to the wealthiest citizens.
Polls show the bill is unpopular across various demographic, age, and income groups.
While the House has passed its own version of the bill, the final text must be agreed upon by both chambers before it can be signed into law.
Trump has urged lawmakers to send it to his desk before July 4th—Independence Day.
