Senate passes Trump budget bill, tees up decisive House vote

Legislators in the upper chamber voted on Tuesday to advance President Donald Trump’s budget plan, publicly dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill. Despite the GOP’s chamber majority, the measure barely passed, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tiebreaking vote to pass the legislation. As president of the Senate, the vice president only votes when casting tie-breaking votes on legislation. The vote came after a major push by Senate Majority Leader John Thune to pass the measure by the Fourth of July.

The bill narrowly passed during a test vote over the weekend, which yielded a 51-49 result. In both votes, Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the only Republicans to vote across party lines. Paul took issue with how the bill increased the national deficit, and Tillis cited concerns about how the bill’s changes to Medicaid would impact his constituents.

What happens next? The House of Representatives passed the budget bill in late May in a 215-214 vote. Despite the Senate’s approval, the House will vote to pass the measure again to approve changes made by the Senate.

With the Senate’s approval, the bill will head to the White House for final approval by Trump. The president long pushed for the bill’s passage to codify administrative promises, including the removal of taxes on tips and overtime pay.

Dig deeper: Read Leo Briceno's report on how the Trump administration plans to foot the bill for the Big, Beautiful Bill.