US Senate begins voting on Trump's 'big beautiful bill'

The US Senate has begun voting on a massive spending plan, dubbed the "big beautiful bill", on Monday after weeks of contentious negotiations.

Republicans - who control both chambers of Congress - were divided over how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend tax breaks.

President Donald Trump wants Congress to pass the bill by 4 July.

After the House of Representatives passed its version of the bill last month by a single vote, the legislation went to the Senate. Because of the changes made by the Senate, the bill will go back to the House for another vote.

Senators zipped through the halls of the Capitol building on Monday, making their way to the Senate floor for various amendment votes, then back to their private meeting rooms where they hashed out grievances outside the view of reporters.

There could be up to 20 hours of debate when senators argue for or against adding amendments to the nearly 1,000-page bill in a process called "vote-a-rama".

"We're still obviously perfecting a few things," Senate Majority Leader John Thune said on Monday.

An amendment to the proposal for Medicaid cuts recently proposed by Florida Senator Rick Scott could cause roughly 20 million Americans to lose their health insurance coverage, according to one estimate.

When asked about the report, Thune said there are "lots of analyses out there".

"The thing that (Scott's) bill doesn't do is it doesn't take effect until 2031. So I'm not sure how you can make the argument that it's going to kick any people off of health insurance tomorrow," Thune said.

Democrats, who have repeatedly denounced the bill, particularly for cutting health care coverage for millions of poorer Americans, are expected to use all ten of their allotted hours of debate, while Republicans likely will not.

Senator Adam Schiff, a Democrat from California, called the bill "terrible".

He told the BBC he was unsure if Senate Republicans would meet Trump's 4 July deadline, adding that, even if they did, "who knows what happens in the House".

Speaking at the White House on Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump is "confident" the bill would be passed and still expects it on his desk by his self-imposed deadline.

Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson were both expected to meet with Trump at the White House on Monday.

Democratic Senator John Fetteran from Pennsylvania appeared frustrated on Monday afternoon, after no signs of a final draft of the bill emerged.

"Oh, my God, I just want to go home," he said, adding that the extended negotiations and voting rounds have caused him to miss his "entire trip to the beach".

"I don't think it's really helpful to put people here till some ungodly hour," he said.

On Sunday, Democrats used a political manoeuvre to stall the bill's progress, calling on Senate clerks to read all 940 pages of the bill out loud, a process that took 16 hours.

The move followed weeks of public discussion and the Senate narrowly moving to open debate on the budget bill in a 51-49 vote over the weekend.

Two Republicans and all Democrats voted against opening debate, arguing for further changes to the legislation.

One of those Republicans, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and argued the legislation broke promises that Trump and Republicans made to voters.

"Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don't give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail," Tillis wrote in his announcement.

The White House reacted angrily to Tillis' comments on Monday, with Leavitt telling reporters that the senator is "just wrong" and that "the President and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right".

The other Republican who voted against moving the bill was Kentucky Senator Rand Paul who objected to debt increases, and cuts to Medicaid, a healthcare programme that is relied on by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans.

On Monday, Republican Senator Dan Sullivan sought to quell concerns about cuts to Medicaid, saying "we're going to be fine in this".

• A look at the key items in Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
• The woman who could bust Trump's 'big beautiful bill

When the bill comes up for a full Senate vote - expected either late on Monday night or early Tuesday morning - Republicans can only afford three defections in order for the bill to pass.

If they lose three votes, Vice President JD Vance will have to cast a tie-breaking vote.

The bill will then return to the House of Representatives, where leadership has advised a full vote on the Senate's bill could come as early as Wednesday morning.

While Republicans control the House, they can also only lose a handful of votes. There are frustrations with the Senate version of the bill among some Republicans in the House, which could make for another close vote.

Democrats in both chambers have largely objected to the spending cuts and the proposed extension of tax breaks.

Meanwhile, Republican debate has focused on how much to cut welfare programmes in order to extend $3.8tn (£2.8tn) in Trump tax breaks. The proposed cuts could strip millions of America's poorest of health insurance.

The version of the bill senators will soon vote on contains tax cuts that Trump campaigned on, such as a tax deduction on Social Security benefits, and the elimination of taxes on overtime work and tips.

The bill also authorises $5 trillion in new borrowing which will add to a growing US debt load - a move that goes against what many conservatives have argued for and infuriated one-time Trump confidant Elon Musk earlier this summer.

The Senate version of the bill will add $3.3tn (£2.4tn) in debt, according to new estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, a non-partisan federal agency.

The national debt currently sits at $36 trillion, according to the treasury department.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged Congress to address the debt limit by mid-July and warned that if they do not, the US could be unable to pay its bills as early as August.

(With additional reporting from Bernd Debusmann Jr at the White House)