WASHINGTON – The U.S. Senate, with the help of Alabama’s Republicans, passed President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” in the early hours Saturday morning, making Congress one step closer to enacting Trump’s agenda.
The legislation would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and add $1.5 trillion in new tax cuts that could include Trump’s campaign promise of no tax on tips. U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, R-Ala., previously told Alabama Daily News that she hopes some of her priorities for tackling childcare affordability will also be a part of the plan.
The budget resolution unveiled Wednesday closely resembles the House version passed in late February with some differences. The Senate blueprint increases the debt limit by $5 trillion, while the House plan lifts it by $4 trillion. The budget plan calls for increased spending on the border and military, some of Trump’s and the GOP’s top priorities. It instructs four committees to cut at least $1 billion.
The Senate adopted the resolution 51-48 Saturday after an all-night ‘vote-a-rama.’ Republicans Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky joined Democrats to oppose it.
Britt presided over the Senate during the last hour before adoption early Saturday morning.
After the vote, Britt said in a post on X that with the adoption of the resolution, “we’ll have an opportunity to make sure that we’re working diligently to secure our border, that we have a strong national defense, that we’re not just energy independent, but we’re energy dominant.”
Senators voted on several amendments Friday night into Saturday morning. Democrats used the time to offer up politically hard votes that could be used against Republicans in future elections.
“Our amendments will give Republicans the chance to join us in hitting the kill switch on Donald Trump’s tariffs, on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-NY, said before the vote-a-rama started.
Senate Republicans are plowing ahead with extending tax cuts using the current policy baseline for spending and revenue that treats the cuts as not adding to the future deficits. Senate Budget Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-SC, said this week he had the authority to make that decision, sidestepping the Senate parliamentarian who ensures the plan follows budget rules.
“This will allow the tax cuts to be permanent – which will tremendously boost the economy,” Graham said in a statement.
Schumer said Republicans “are going nuclear” by bypassing the parliamentarian and Senate precedent.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Thursday that the parliamentarian “has deemed the Senate budget resolution, which uses the (current) policy baseline, in order and ready for floor consideration.”
The Joint Committee on Taxation found that extending the Trump tax cuts will cost $4.6 trillion, not including interest, or $5.5 trillion, including interest over the next decade.
Trump endorsed the Senate plan earlier this week in a Truth Social Post, saying it enacts his priorities of “PERMANENT Tax Cuts, Spending Cuts, Energy, Historic Investments in Defense, Border, and much more.”
The House passed its own budget resolution last month that calls for a goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts. It directs the House committee that oversees Medicaid spending to cut $880 billion. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., previously said it would be hard for him to vote for a plan that includes cuts to Medicaid.
Now the House will have to vote on the Senate’s revised budget blueprint so it can unlock the reconciliation process that allows the Senate to avoid a filibuster and pass the plan with a simple majority. However, adopting it in the House could prove difficult with a razor-thin GOP majority. Both chambers will have to adopt the same measure before committees can move forward with crafting the details of the legislation.
Speaker Mike Johnson has set an ambitious goal of getting the reconciliation package done and sent to the president’s desk by Memorial Day.