US Senate holds marathon overnight vote on Trump's 'big beautiful bill' MHM NEWS

MHM NEWS

US Senate holds marathon overnight vote on Trump's 'big beautiful bill'

Transcript

00:00The U.S. Senate has held a marathon voting session through the night on a sprawling budget

00:11bill that is critical to President Donald Trump's agenda. The one big, beautiful bill

00:16act, running to nearly 1,000 pages, includes increased spending for border security, defense

00:23and energy production, offset to a degree by cuts to health care and food support programs.

00:29The proposal in this bill bears no resemblance to that kind of discipline and due diligence.

00:37It has no insights into how these provider tax cuts are going to be absorbed without

00:43harming people. Mr. President, we owe it to the American people and I owe it to the people

00:50of North Carolina to withhold my affirmative vote until it's demonstrated to me that we've

00:58done our homework. We're going to make sure that we fulfill the promise and then we can

01:05feel, I can feel good about a bill that I'm willing to vote for.

01:10Its fate hangs in the balance as Trump's Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress, remain

01:16split over how much to cut welfare programs by as they seek to extend tax breaks. If approved

01:23in the Senate, the bill will return to the lower house of representatives for a final vote before

01:28being sent to Trump to be signed into law. Dear viewers, if you like this news, please like it and

01:33share your comments in the comment box. Overnight from Monday into Tuesday, senators argued for or

01:39against amendments. Each voted on separately in a process called Voterama. The process has lasted more

01:46than 22 hours so far. Just after 6 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, 11 o'clock Greenwich Mean Time,

01:53Vice President J.D. Vance derived on Capitol Hill, indicating Senate Republicans may need him to cast

01:59a tie-breaking vote to push the legislation through. Republicans in the Senate can only afford three

02:05defections in order for the bill to pass. If they lose three votes, Vance will have to cast a tie-breaking

02:11vote. The bill's critics include Elon Musk, who has stepped up his criticism of Republicans who

02:17campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase

02:22in history. The tech billionaire was in charge of DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency,

02:28which has been tasked to find ways of cutting government spending until he fell out with Trump

02:33over the one big beautiful bill act. The U.S. national debt currently sits at 36 trillion dollars,

02:4026 trillion pounds, according to the Treasury Department. According to new estimates, the bill will add

02:463.3 trillion dollars to that debt if it is passed. Proposed cuts contained in the legislation could strip

02:53nearly 12 million Americans of their health insurance coverage, according to the Congressional

02:58Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal agency. The Republican debate has focused on how much to cut

03:05welfare programs in order to extend 3.8 trillion dollars in Trump tax breaks. One of their amendments,

03:12by Senator John Cornyn, proposed reducing federal Medicaid payments, the program that helps low-income

03:18groups cover health care costs, to states that provide coverage to undocumented immigrants charged with

03:24specific crimes. It was not approved. Democrats have criticized the proposed cuts and have attempted

03:30to slow proceedings in the Senate. Senator Ed Markey, for instance, proposed an amendment to delete

03:36provisions which he argued would force rural hospitals to limit their services or shut down altogether.

03:43Other amendments proposed by Democrats concerned the bill's cuts to food assistance. They were all voted

03:49down along party lines. Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate on the

03:55bill at all, arguing for further changes to the legislation. One of those Republicans, North Carolina

04:02Senator Tom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and said the legislation broke promises that

04:08Trump and Republicans made to voters. Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who

04:15really don't give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,

04:20Tillis wrote in his announcement. Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul objected to the debt increase

04:26and cuts to Medicaid. Once the bill passes the Senate, it will then return to the House of Representatives,

04:32where a full vote on the Senate's version could come as early as Wednesday morning. Their original version

04:38was passed with a razor-thin majority of one last week. Fiscal hawks of the Republican-led House

04:45Freedom Caucus have threatened to torpedo the Senate package, which they say adds over $650 billion

04:52to the national deficit. Despite the uncertainty, White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt has said

04:58Trump is confident the bill will be on his desk for a final signature by July 4th. For his part,

05:05Musk has, once again, threatened to set up a new political party if the bill clears Congress.

05:11In a sign of further alienation between the pair, Trump has suggested that Doge should take a look at

05:16cutting the subsidies that Tesla CEO's companies have received. Elon may get more subsidy than any

05:22human being in history, by far, and without subsidies, Elon would probably have to close

05:28up shop and head back home to South Africa, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.

Category

Transcript

Recommended