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Donald Trump’s landmark tax and spending legislation moved a step closer to becoming law on Tuesday after the US Senate ended days of haggling and narrowly passed the so-called big, beautiful bill.
The bill’s passage through Congress’s upper chamber now leaves its fate in the hands of the House of Representatives, where it could still face considerable opposition ahead of a looming July 4 deadline.
The Senate approved the sweeping legislation, 51-50, on Tuesday after vice-president JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote.
The US president celebrated the legislation’s progress during a visit to a migrant detention facility in Florida, telling reporters there was “something for everyone” in the bill.
Critics have warned that the legislation, which includes steep tax cuts, will sharply increase the US’s national debt. The US dollar has fallen in recent months amid fears of deterioration in America’s fiscal outlook.
For days, senators had been split on the bill, with a critical number of Republicans voicing concerns about its size and scope. The crucial vote came after a marathon session in the chamber that lasted more than 24 hours as Republican leaders hashed out deals with dissenters.
In the end, all but three Republican senators — Rand Paul of Kentucky, North Carolina’s Thom Tillis and Susan Collins of Maine — voted in favour of the bill, while all 47 Senate Democrats voted against it. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who had also raised concerns about the bill, voted for it.
The “big, beautiful bill” would fund an extension of sweeping tax cuts introduced in the president’s first term by slashing spending on healthcare and social welfare programmes. It would also increase spending on the military and border security, and scrap taxes on tips and overtime.
But the legislation still faces significant hurdles if it is to be signed into law by Trump’s self-imposed deadline of July 4.
“I think it is going to very nicely in the House,” Trump said on Tuesday. “Actually, I think it will be easier in the House than it was in the Senate.”
But House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson will walk a political tightrope to secure the votes needed from his fractious Republican party and send the legislation to the president by the end of the week.
Johnson on Tuesday said the House would “work quickly” to pass the bill by Friday’s independence day holiday.
“The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,” he added in a statement released shortly after the Senate vote.
While an earlier version of the bill passed the House by a single vote in May, several House members have taken issue with the Senate version. Fiscal hawks have said the Senate bill adds an unsustainable amount to the government’s growing debt pile.
More moderate House members have criticised the bill’s cuts to Medicaid, which provides healthcare to low-income and disabled Americans.
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The House rules committee was set to start considering the Senate bill on Tuesday afternoon, with votes in the full House expected as soon as Wednesday.
Independent forecasters have warned that the legislation will add to the country’s already swollen debt levels, with the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimating at the weekend that the Senate version of the bill would increase the deficit by $3.3tn over the next decade.
But many Republicans have criticised the watchdog’s record, while the White House argues the legislation will ultimately narrow the deficit through fostering growth.
