The so-called Big Beautiful Bill, which is a comprehensive set of legislation that consolidates significant tax reforms, immigration policy, and regulation of artificial intelligence, passed by the US House of Representatives on April 15, 2025, is yet to pass the Senate as of July 1, 2025. GOP leaders remain scrambling to muster enough votes to send the bill forward to final passage amid mounting opposition in the ranks of their own members, even though the measure survived a high-stakes, overnight session of the voting marathon known as a vote-a-rama.
Republican Leadership Not Meeting Effortlessly Repetition
The move was championed by Trump and his inner circle, which came in hot for the bill as one of its most important legislative agendas in the second semester of the year. Still, even after weeks of planning, the Senate Majority Leader, John Thune, is getting unwelcome surprise opposition in his own ranks within the Republican caucus.
Two senators, Rand Paul and Thom Tillis, have already stated that they will vote against the bill, declaring objections to the expenditures and unanswered questions about some of the regulatory provisions. Senator Lisa Murkowski is a swing vot,e and she has been noncommittal publicly. They do not fully support the bill in terms of their personal insecurities, with her publicly stating that she is worried about the Medicaid cuts offered by the bill, as well as the SNAP benefits proposed in the bill, being discussed behind closed doors.
Another loss spells doom to the bill in case the leadership does not have Vice President J.D. Vance to break the tie vote.
An Anxious, Prolonged Vote-a-Rama
Senators have been subjected to a procedural marathon, namely, the vote-a-rama, when the parliamentarians get the chance to propose and vote on the amendments quickly. Some of these amendments have already brought a lot of change to the composition of the bill. As an example, senators voted to eliminate a controversial amendment that would have barred states from any regulation of artificial intelligence-after a last-minute blow-up between senators Marsha Blackburn and Ted Cruz, who had previously agreed to the wording.
A second amendment, by Senator Joni Ernst, to prohibit millionaires from taking unemployment support, was adopted simply by voice vote. But an even more controversial amendment that would cut its Medicaid spending even more is likely to be offered soon, and it may be the key to persuading undecided senators Mike Lee and Rick Scott.
A Fine Line to Walk
It will indeed come as a relief to GOP members, Thune, and other GOP leaders who have been putting up a lot of effort in the background to bring out the last-minute changes on the bill to bring it out in the most perfected form. Each could lose or defect, and the whole scheme that Trump has placed as the primary achievement of his administration would quickly collapse, despite having been billed as the greatest legislative achievement since he had re-entered office.
Thune indicated to the reporters that he felt some tension as he said that he was not in a position where he was ready to take the process to the final vote without a guarantee of the bill being passed. When asked whether it was possible that the bill would be pulled completely, he responded: Such are alternatives that I do not have to think about.
