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The US Senate will begin voting on amendments to Donald Trump’s landmark tax and spending bill on Monday, as the US president seeks to ratchet up the pressure to pass the legislation before the July 4 holiday.
The start of a potentially marathon voting session follows a fraught weekend in which the Senate narrowly voted to start debating the legislation, which Trump has dubbed the “big, beautiful bill” and would extend tax cuts, reduce social spending and increase federal debt.
The passage of the bill has been a priority for the president since his return to office, but it only secured a razor-thin passage in the US House of Representatives last month after days of wrangling. Republicans have a majority in both chambers.
The bill would fund an extension of the sweeping tax cuts introduced in Trump’s first term by slashing spending on healthcare and social welfare programmes. It would also increase spending on the military and border security.
Trump, who harangued and encouraged senators on his Truth Social account over the weekend, posted early on Monday: “ONE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL, is moving along nicely! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Independent forecasters have warned that the bill would add to the country’s already swollen debt levels, pushing them beyond the highs of the second world war.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Sunday said that in its current version it would add more than $3.2tn to US national debt over 10 years.
If the Senate passes the bill, the House must then approve any amendments to the legislation before it can be sent to the president’s desk for his signature.
The White House, which has insisted the legislation will ultimately shrink the debt, said: “Democrats and the media love to tout the CBO’s historically incorrect scoring.”
Chuck Schumer, Democratic Senate minority leader, told senators late on Saturday that Republicans were “scrambling to pass a radical bill, released to the public in the dead of night, praying the American people don’t realise what’s in it”.
The cost of the bill and its planned cuts to Medicaid health services for the poor have worried even some Republicans.
Thom Tillis, the Republican senator from North Carolina, joined Democrats in voting against opening debate on the bill, warning the legislation “would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities”.
Trump’s retaliation was swift, threatening Tillis with a primary challenge.
“I will be meeting with [challengers] over the coming weeks, looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina and, so importantly, the United States of America,” he said on Truth Social.
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Tillis on Sunday announced he would not seek re-election and took a swipe at the country’s hyper-partisan politics.
“In Washington over the last few years, it’s become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered species,” Tillis said.
Wiley Nickel, a former Democratic House representative, has already launched his Senate bid for North Carolina, a critical swing state.
Billionaire Elon Musk has also resumed his attacks on the bill for the first time since falling out with Trump over the issue.
“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk said in a post on X. “Utterly insane and destructive.”
