LATEST: Senate Clears Key Procedural Vote on Trump Reconciliation Bill Outright

The reconciliation package—aka the ‘big, beautiful bill’–was dragged over the finish line in a crucial procedural vote. Vice President JD Vance arrived on the Hill to cast the tiebreaking vote if necessary. It was not needed.

The motion passed 51-49. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY) voted against advancing what will be Trump's signature domestic legislation. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) did vote against the motion, but later changed his vote. Republicans came too close to making perfect the enemy of the good, the headline for this weekend.

Senate crosses threshold to get onto Big, Beautiful Bill, 51-49. Vance not needed to break tie.
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 29, 2025

Agreed to, 51-49: Motion to proceed to Cal. #107, H.R.1, One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) June 29, 2025

🚨BREAKING NEWS: The Senate just — in a surprising move — CLEARED President Trump's OBBB to move forward in a key procedural vote!

The vote was 51-49.

It was expected that VP JD Vance might have to vote in order to break a tie in the Senate. pic.twitter.com/7wItwDqV86
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) June 29, 2025

Senate Majority Leader John Thune was able to bring it home. The problem is, Lord knows what was hashed out behind closed doors to make that happen. Additionally, as planned, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) objected to unanimous consent, which is why he remained seated in the chamber throughout this time. The clerk will now read the whole BBB, which will take hours.

Schumer objects to waiving the reading of the bill. The clerk is now reading the entire reconciliation bill. This is going to take awhile. See you tomorrow
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 29, 2025

From colleague Dan Scully. GOP LA Sen Kennedy on Big, Beautiful Bill: After tonight, we start shooting with live ammunition. And ultimately, I think, based on the thing I know right now, we'll pass the bill with one vote to spare, but it could be another time. That's what I…
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 29, 2025

There were lengthy discussions among Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), and Rick Scott (R-FL), who all voted in favor just before midnight.

Megabill in limbo.

Three holdouts — Mike Lee, Cynthia Lummis and Rick Scott — are meeting with GOP leaders and JD Vance.

They're believed to be voting as a bloc. @jordainc @ktullymcmanus https://t.co/6KsNRnLUAL
— Zach Warmbrodt (@Zachary) June 29, 2025

Positive news for all the reporters on the Hill —

I’m told R’s are moving in the right direction to get this procedural vote done before midnight.
— Aishah Hasnie (@aishahhasnie) June 29, 2025

I’m told they HAD the votes…

And now we are here. With four senators demanding more in the finals minutes.
— Aishah Hasnie (@aishahhasnie) June 29, 2025

Johnson, Lummis, Scott and Lee all vote yes
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 29, 2025

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) immediately objected

The legislation aims to make the Trump tax cuts permanent, fully fund the immigration enforcement agenda, and apply much-needed work requirements for welfare reforms. Like everything in the Senate, this bill was going to be a tight vote. It would not have been shocking if Republicans had failed to clear this hurdle, especially with a host of Republicans not keen on the Medicaid funding tweaks and public lands provisions (via the Hill):

Important thread. What’s in reconciliation in most recent version. This still may not be the final text. But they’re getting to crunch time. They want to get this to trumps desk in 6 days. https://t.co/NBAlePXyKa
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 28, 2025

this is all an attempt to make the bill more palatable for the House. TRUMP was pressing the Senate to make the IRA phase out harsher. https://t.co/6Pfd03hMqR
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 28, 2025

Senate Republicans control a 53-seat majority and can afford three GOP defections on the bill and still pass it with a tiebreaking vote from Vice President Vance.
Several GOP senators, however, refused to say whether they would vote to proceed to the bill, including Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Ron Johnson (Wis.).
[…]
Hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare spending are a major problem for several Republican senators, including Murkowski and Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Josh Hawley (Mo.) and Jerry Moran (Kan.).
Johnson appeared angry over the decision to forge ahead with a vote, despite his pleas to spend more time on finding additional spending cuts.

After the BBB barely cleared the procedural hurdle, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) dropped the public lands provision from the bill to reduce the political heartburn:

Lee withdraws public land sales proposal, says he'll work with Trump https://t.co/7elmEXrtzQ
— Burgess Everett (@burgessev) June 29, 2025

We still have a long way to go. Both chambers must pass an identical bill, so this process is still far from over. The vote-a-rama begins, but only after the entire legislation is read aloud, which is what Democrats aim to do next. That will likely take 10 to 12 hours.

Another source of concern was Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, who was appointed by Democrats, lopping off key portions of the bill. Elizabeth MacDonough, who took a hatchet to the Senate version. Why we allowed a Harry Reid lackey to butcher this legislation is still beyond me.

Parliamentarian has also ruled out these proposals in the "One Big Beautiful Bill":
- Denying Medicaid to green card holders and other legal non-citizens
- Penalizing states providing health care to undocumented immigrants
- Requiring immediate proof of citizenship for Medicaid
— Lisa Desjardins (@LisaDNews) June 26, 2025

🚨🚨🚨 MASSIVE NEWS

THE SENATE PARLIAMENTARIAN has struck a whole bunch of critical health provisions from the reconciliation bill.

INCLUDING the provider tax framework pic.twitter.com/Mv0nmKGOns
— Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) June 26, 2025

UPDATE: Trump was very pleased with the outcome of this vote. Also, asked what Rand Paul's problem was?

Tonight we saw a GREAT VICTORY in the Senate with the “GREAT, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” but, it wouldn’t have happened without the Fantastic Work of Senator Rick Scott, Senator Mike Lee, Senator Ron Johnson, and Senator Cynthia Lummis. They, along with all of the other Republican Patriots who voted for the Bill, are people who truly love our Country! As President of the USA, I am proud of them all, and look forward to working with them to GROW OUR ECONOMY, REDUCE WASTEFUL SPENDING, SECURE OUR BORDER, FIGHT FOR OUR MILITARY/VETS, ENSURE THAT OUR MEDICAID SYSTEM HELPS THOSE WHO TRULY NEED IT, PROTECT OUR SECOND AMENDMENT, AND SO MUCH MORE. GOD BLESS AMERICA &, MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!

Trump: Did Rand Paul Vote “NO” again tonight? What’s wrong with this guy??? DJT
— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) June 29, 2025

Trump just posted this.

Rand Paul accepted an invite to golf with the president earlier today at his beautiful club, too. Unreal. pic.twitter.com/ltmRx7lvQk
— johnny maga (@_johnnymaga) June 29, 2025