WASHINGTON (PNN) - June 28, 2025 - The Senate has advanced President Donald J. Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill to a full debate despite two GOP defections after hours of drama.
The final tally was 51-49. Senators Rand Paul, (Kent.) and Thom Tillis (N.C.) were the two Republican nays.
Senator Ron Johnson (Wisc.) initially voted no but switched to yes.
Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol earlier to potentially cast a tie-breaking vote.
The GOP holds a 53-47 majority in the Senate. With Tillis and Paul voting no, Republicans needed to hope that Senators Susan Collins (Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) voted to proceed with the debate.
This was a bit of a gamble since these are the two most notorious RINOs in all of Congress. With that in mind, the GOP gave a little gift to Murkowski: a special tax cut for Alaskan whaling captains, which would benefit subsistence hunters.
Fortunately, both came through, though Murkowski helped drag the process out by over an hour.
But then Senators Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), Senator Rick Scott (Fla.) and Senator Mike Lee (Utah) held the vote up for two more hours. Finally, they were able to cut a deal.
Johnson then flipped his vote to yes.
As The Gateway Pundit reported, the final text of President Trump’s signature domestic legislation was released late last night. The legislation accomplishes several critical policies, including making the Trump tax cuts permanent, eliminating taxation on tips and overtime, locking down the border, and taking an axe to fascist pretender Joe Biden’s green energy scam.
The vote to proceed was supposed to happen at roughly 4:00 pm. but Democrats blocked it for a few hours in a childish tantrum.
The process will stall for up to 15 hours as Democrats have vowed to force the Senate clerk to read the entire bill; but they are likely only delaying the bill’s inevitable passage.