Marathon Showdown on Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” Unfolds Overnight
I’m standing here as the Senate has morphed into its own all‑night arena, watching senators huddle beneath pashminas and hoodies while the clock keeps ticking on President Trump’s sprawling domestic policy package—famously dubbed the “big, beautiful bill.” What began yesterday morning at 9:35 a.m. ET has stretched into the wee hours of Tuesday, with no clear finish line in sight. This marathon “vote‑a‑rama” is an open‑ended gauntlet of amendment votes—some heavy on substance, others purely political gestures—that will shape, tweak, and expose every corner of a multitrillion‑dollar proposal.
At around 3:30 a.m., Republicans struck first with an amendment from Sen. Joni Ernst to bar federal unemployment funds for million‑dollar earners, a change that sailed through unanimously. Shortly after, Sen. Marsha Blackburn led the charge to strip a ten‑year moratorium on state and local AI regulations—a win so sweeping it passed 99‑1, all but ensuring that House skeptics like Marjorie Taylor Greene can consider supporting the final package.
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Meanwhile, Medicaid—covering over 71 million Americans—has become the prime battleground. In the darkened chamber, Sen. John Kennedy’s amendment to accelerate dead‑person eligibility checks by a year drew bipartisan applause; even Sen. Ron Wyden couldn’t argue against stopping checks to the dearly departed. Other Democrats have zeroed in on proposed cuts to food stamps and safety‑net programs, knowing each roll call could be fodder for campaign ads next year.
Behind me, Sen. Lisa Murkowski—blanket draped around her shoulders—debates rural hospital funding with Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Sen. Susan Collins tried to raise new revenue for rural providers by hiking taxes on multi‑millionaires, only to see her proposal fail procedurally. Yet she insists this won’t sway her final vote; she, like many, is simply “holding her cards” until the bill is fully assembled.
It’s not just policy in play but precedent: the first vote on whether to use a “current policy” baseline for cost scoring could redefine how Congress measures tax bills for years to come. In traditional scoring, the Congressional Budget Office projects nearly $3.3 trillion added to the deficit over a decade—though under the GOP’s preferred method, that number shrinks to around $508 billion.
As senators pass the time—some with books, others in hushed strategy sessions—I’m reminded that this isn’t just another legislative hurdle. It’s a high‑stakes chess match, with each “aye” or “nay” echoing well beyond the Capitol walls. And for the president’s Fourth of July deadline, every vote tonight inches the bill closer to his desk…or pushes it further into uncertainty.
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