U.S. senators debated into the early hours of Sunday over President Donald Trump’s sweeping “One Big Beautiful Bill”, a massive and deeply divisive spending package that blends cornerstone elements of his domestic agenda with drastic cuts to social welfare programs.
The $4.5 trillion proposal would extend Trump’s expiring first-term tax cuts, boost border security, and eliminate key climate and health initiatives. It has triggered a bitter split within the Republican Party, particularly over proposed Medicaid cuts that could leave 8.6 million low-income Americans without health care and threaten dozens of rural hospitals.
Despite the controversy, the Senate narrowly voted 51–49 late Saturday to open formal debate, hours after a procedural vote was delayed by Republican holdouts. Vice President JD Vance helped broker the deal to proceed. Two GOP senators joined all 47 Democrats in opposing the motion.
Trump, eager to pass the bill by July 4, celebrated the outcome. “Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate,” he posted on Truth Social, while also attacking Democrats as “evil” and “incompetent” for resisting the bill.
Democrats, firmly opposed, began by forcing the entire 1,000-page bill to be read aloud — a process expected to take 15 hours — in protest over its contents.
“Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill,” said Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer. “So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish. We will be here all night if that’s what it takes.”
The legislation still faces a narrow path in the House, where Republican leadership cannot afford many defections.
Divided GOP, economic fallout
Republicans are scrambling to finance Trump’s tax extensions, with offsets largely targeting Medicaid and rolling back green energy tax credits established under former President Joe Biden.
The Medicaid cuts have sparked infighting among Republicans and raised alarm in rural communities, where access to healthcare is already limited.
The bill would also unwind many of Biden’s clean energy incentives, further angering business leaders like Elon Musk, a former Trump ally. “This bill is utterly insane and destructive,” Musk said Saturday. “It hands money to dying industries while harming future-focused ones.”
Independent analysts warn the plan would trigger a historic transfer of wealth — from the poorest 10% of Americans to the richest — and swell the national debt by over $3 trillion.
Public opinion is strongly against the bill, with broad disapproval across party, income, and age lines, according to recent polling.
Though the House has already passed its version, both chambers must agree on a unified text before the bill can be signed into law.
AFP
