The push in the Senate to get the One Big, Beautiful Bill (OBBB) to the floor for debate was fraught with wrangling and drama, as our editors Bob Hoge and Becca Lower covered. But at the eleventh hour, it finally happened, despite North Carolina’s Thom Tillis’ need to play MAGA foil. The Senate held a procedural vote to allow for debate on the OBBB, and it passed, 51-49. There was no need for Vice President JD Vance to make a tie-breaking vote, even though he was in the chamber in order to do just that.
Sen. Ron Johnson saved him the trouble. As of Friday, Johnson was still a firm “NO” vote, despite meeting with President Donald Trump to see if a compromise could be found. But somewhere between the vote and the final tally, Johnson miraculously conceded and voted “YES.”
As Lower wrote in her piece on the procedural vote:
Where do things go from here? Of course, the Senate will have to finish its work — the reading of the text, then an (expected) votearama on Sunday, with a floor vote to follow, before sending it back to the House.
In a conference call Saturday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly reassured members that he has been helping Senate Republicans shepherd the bill to make it more closely match the bill the House had passed. There will be some bumps in the road, of course.
It wouldn’t be the United States Congress if there were not, but it appears that the Republicans are finally getting serious about taking action