A bleary-eyed Lisa Murkowski exited the Republican whip’s office early Tuesday morning with a coffee in hand, after more than 20 straight hours of backroom negotiations over President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill. “It’s in the hands of the people that operate the copy machine,” the holdout Alaska Senator told reporters, signaling that she planned to flip her vote and support the bill—the final commitment Republican leaders needed to secure passage.
A few hours later, the Senate voted 51 to 50 to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote—a dramatic conclusion to a marathon legislative session that began Monday morning. Only three Republicans—Senators Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina—broke ranks to oppose the bill, which is considered a centerpiece of Trump’s second-term agenda.
The legislation now returns to the House, where its passage remains far from certain. Several House Republicans have voiced alarm over the Senate’s changes—particularly deeper Medicaid cuts and a larger projected deficit—warning that the revised bill could struggle to gain support from both hard-line conservatives and vulnerable moderates.
Still, it’s a significant victory for Trump, who has urged Congress to send the bill to his desk by July 4—a self-imposed deadline that now hinges on whether House Speaker Mike Johnson can marshal his 220-212 majority to endorse a Senate bill many of his members believe is worse than the version they sent over in late May.
Now that different versions of the bill have passed both chambers, the House can send the bill directly to Trump for his signature by adopting the Senate version. If the House intends to make more changes to it, Republican leaders from both chambers will have to hammer out a compromise version that can draw enough support for final votes in the House and Senate.