US Senate conducts marathon vote on Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’

The US Senate is conducting a marathon vote on the ‘big beautiful bill’ budget bill presented by President Donald Trump.

Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ hangs in the balance as Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, remain split over how much to cut welfare programmes by as they seek to extend tax breaks.

If approved in the Senate, the bill will return to the lower House of Representatives, which passed its own version by a single vote last month.

Elon Musk has stepped up his criticism of Republicans who “campaigned on reducing government spending” and then “immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history”.

Musk was in charge of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been tasked with finding ways of cutting government spending, until the pair fell out.

The US national debt currently sits at $36trn (£26trn), according to the treasury department. According to new estimates, if passed, the bill will add $3.3trn to that debt.

The proposed legislation, running to nearly 1,000-pages, includes increased spending for border security, defence and energy production, offset to a degree by cuts to healthcare and food-support programmes.

Proposed cuts could strip nearly 12 million Americans of their health insurance coverage, according to the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan federal agency.

Senators are currently arguing for or against adding amendments – each voted on separately in a process called “vote-a-rama”, which could entail up to 20 hours of debate.

The Republican debate has focused on how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend $3.8trn (£2.8trn) in Trump tax breaks.

Other amendments proposed by Democrats concerned the bill’s cuts to food assistance. They were all voted down along party lines.

It followed weeks of public discussion and the Senate narrowly moving on the budget bill in a 51-49 vote over the weekend.

Republicans in the Senate 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.

Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ would then return to the House of Representatives, where a full vote on the Senate’s version could come as early as Wednesday morning.

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