WASHINGTON: The U.S. Senate began an overnight “vote-a-rama” marathon on Friday aimed at eventually handing Republican President Donald Trump sweeping legislation to extend tax cuts and achieve budget reductions in the face of staunch Democratic opposition.
Republicans and Democrats were due to vote on dozens of amendments aimed at altering a budget framework for Trump's tax, border, immigration and military agenda, with a vote to pass the resolution expected in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday.
Congress needs to pass the budget resolution to unlock a fast-track procedure to circumvent Democratic roadblocks and enact Trump's legislation in the months ahead. If the Senate approves the measure, it will move to the House of Representatives for consideration next week.
Trump is pushing hard for Republicans, who narrowly control both chambers, to hand him what he calls “one big beautiful bill” that also would pay for additional resources for securing the U.S. border with Mexico, deporting immigrants and bolstering the military.
Some Republicans said the path forward for Trump's agenda could be complicated by recession worries if financial markets continue to reel over the president's tariff policy.
“My concern is, if we are having the kind of conversation today three weeks from now, then the distraction will be so great that it will slow down what we try to do,“ Republican Senator Thom Tillis told reporters.
Under the rosiest scenarios, it could take months for the Senate and House to get to the point of voting on legislation to enact Trump's tax cuts, which some estimate could add at least $5 trillion over 10 years to a national debt that is already is more than $36.6 trillion.
Republicans have been fighting behind the scenes over proposals to repeal popular environmental policies and overhaul social safety-net programs including Medicaid healthcare for lower-income Americans to generate spending cuts that could help pay for the Trump agenda.
'Expose the dark corners'
Once Friday's marathon amendment-voting began, the Senate adopted a Republican measure establishing a deficit-neutral reserve fund to help protect Medicaid and the Medicare healthcare program for the elderly.
Republicans also turned away several Democratic amendments that aimed to control the growth of the federal debt, protect Medicaid and Medicare benefits and prevent Congress from cutting nutrition support for low-income women and children.
Some of the failed Democratic measures to protect safety-net programs still drew token support from Republicans including Senators Susan Collins, Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski.
Democrats were also expected to offer amendments to protect veterans and Social Security retirement benefits and target Trump's unilateral trade tariffs.
“Democrats will expose the dark corners of the Republican plan,“ Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said ahead of the vote-a-rama. “We will lay the case for how Republicans will plan to destroy Medicaid as we know it.”
One Republican senator, fiscal hawk Rand Paul, opposed the Trump framework in a preliminary vote on Thursday because it includes a $5 trillion increase in the borrowing limit on the federal debt.
“It’s always been the conservative position not to add debt; not to add extraordinary amounts,“ Paul, who is expected to oppose passage of the framework, said in an interview.
“This may well be a record amount of debt. I’m not sure we’ve ever voted for $5 trillion in debt,“ the Kentucky Republican said.
