Monday, June 30th, 2025

Senate Republicans will launch a so-called vote-a-rama this morning in hopes of passing their "big, beautiful" reconciliation bill (H.R.1) later today.

However, Democrats will likely attempt to make the process as politically painful as possible, and it's by no means clear whether at least 50 of the 53 Senate Republicans will support the bill on a final vote. Vice President JD Vance serves as a potential tiebreaker. 

A vote-a-rama involves senators taking up an unlimited number of amendments in a marathon session. Other votes, such as on points of order, are also possible.

The first vote the Senate takes before starting the vote-a-rama is on the current policy baseline, the accounting tactic Republicans are using to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent. 

The vote-a-rama follows a weekend Senate session. A substitute amendment to the House-passed bill was released just before midnight Friday. GOP leaders held a procedural vote open for hours Saturday evening as they negotiated with a handful of members. Once that vote gaveled down, 51-49, Democrats forced the 940-page substitute amendment to be read aloud on the floor. That took until just after 3 p.m. Sunday, at which point floor debate commenced.

Absent major changes, it appears unlikely that the two GOP senators who voted against a motion to proceed to the bill, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina, will support it on a final vote. Republicans can lose no more than one additional vote and still pass it, assuming all senators vote and all Democrats vote "no." 

Should the Senate pass the measure, the House is prepared to return from recess as soon as Wednesday morning, in hopes of clearing it for President Donald Trump's signature ahead of his July 4 self-imposed deadline.