Final Senate Vote on Reconciliation Package Expected Today

The Senate is still in the process of its “vote-a-rama” amendment debate on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act as Republicans look to send the revised reconciliation package to the House later this morning. The GOP batted down scores of amendments and procedural motions offered by Democrats throughout yesterday and overnight, but floor action was noticeably slower at times as Senate Republicans continued to hash out last minute details, particularly on the health care and clean energy tax credit pieces. Notably, the Senate overwhelmingly adopted [99-1] an overnight amendment from Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) that removed a provision that sought to condition broadband infrastructure funding to a 10-year moratorium on enforcing state and local artificial intelligence (AI) laws.

• Where things stand. The final vote is expected to be close given the likely No votes from Sens. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rand Paul (R-KY). Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Ron Johnson (R-WI) have also expressed concerns throughout the process and should be watched closely as the final vote comes to a conclusion. Assuming the bill can pass the Senate today, House leadership will have their work cut out for them as they look to balance concerns from conservatives on the Freedom Caucus about the budgetary impact of the revised legislation, as well as lawmakers weary about deep cuts to public benefit programs like Medicaid and SNAP. To that end, it’s possible that consideration of the reconciliation package slips past the White House’s self-imposed July 4 deadline. Of note, President Trump expressed openness to moving back the deadline in comments to reporters this morning, admitting that he “think[s] it’s very hard to do July 4” at this time.