The Senate has advanced President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill to a full debate despite two GOP defections after hours of drama.
The final tally was 51-49. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina were the two Republican nays.
Ron Johnson of Wisconsin initially voted no but switched to yes.
Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol earlier to potentially cast a tie-breaking vote.
Watch:
Vice President Vance enters the Capitol as he prepares to break a potential tie on the first procedural hurdle on the GOP reconciliation bill pic.twitter.com/d2ATm6dP6m
— Max Cohen (@maxpcohen) June 29, 2025
The GOP holds a 53-47 majority in the Senate. With Tillis and Paul voting no, Republicans needed to hope that Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted to proceed with the debate.
This was a bit of a gamble since these are the two most notorious RINOs in all of Congress. With that in mind, the GOP gave a little gift to Murkowski: a special tax cut for Alaskan whaling captains, which would benefit subsistence hunters.
Fortunately, both came through, though Murkowski helped drag the process out by over an hour.
But then Senators