Senate GOP looks to pass marathon final test on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’

Senate Republicans are facing a marathon session on Monday in order to pass President Trump’s ambitious tax and spending package and meet the White House’s end-of-week deadline to OK its top domestic agenda item. 

Senators will convene on Monday morning for a lengthy “vote-a-rama,” during which lawmakers can offer an unlimited number of amendments that are related to the mammoth proposal. 

The hours-long voting session was expected to start overnight, but GOP leaders opted to push it until 9 a.m. after a grueling weekend, which included Democrats forcing the Senate clerks to read all 940 pages of the bill. That process took nearly 16 hours to complete, and was followed by debate on the bill itself that lasted into Monday morning before the chamber finally recessed. 

“The debate and eventually voting on the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ has begun. Hallelujah. It’s taken a while for us to get there,” Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said on the floor on Sunday afternoon. “I’ve worked a long time with my colleagues to get to where we are today.”