Senate passes GOP megabill after Alaska side deal

What happened

After an all-night voting session, the Senate Tuesday narrowly passed President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful" tax bill, sending the measure back to the House for a final vote. Three Republican senators — Rand Paul (Ky.), Susan Collins (Maine) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) — joined all 47 Democrats in opposing the bill, forcing Vice President J.D. Vance to break the tie, 51-50. But the pivotal yes vote came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), whose support was secured after hours of negotiations that resulted in several side deals for her home state.

Who said what

Trump's tax bill will "extend and expand tax cuts and provide new funding for border security, immigration enforcement and the military," said The New York Times, and despite steep cuts to "Medicaid, food aid benefits, student aid and clean energy programs," it will "still add trillions to deficits over the next decade."

The bill, dubbed the "Big Ugly Betrayal Bill" by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), was expected to be the GOP's "marquee legislative achievement" ahead of next year's midterms, Politico said. The "starkly regressive" legislation contains some "populist flourishes," The Washington Post said, and to win Murkowski's support, it was "loaded with benefits for Alaska, including a special tax break for whaling captains" and special carveouts for Medicaid and food assistance.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

After the vote, Murkowski told reporters it was "probably the most difficult and agonizing legislative 24-hour period that I have encountered" in 23 years in the Senate, "but I held my head up and made sure the people of Alaska are not forgotten in this." Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said his Alaska colleague "knows how to use her leverage," while Paul criticized his fellow Republicans for adding "more pork and subsidies for Alaska to secure that vote."

What next?

The bill now returns to the similarly divided House, where the Senate's extensive "alterations" have "irritated multiple factions of Republicans," said The Wall Street Journal. With voting expected to start as early as today, said Politico, Republicans are moving "down to the wire on their self-imposed July 4 deadline" for getting the bill to Trump.