Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill on the brink as JD Vance is rushed to Capitol to whip rebel senators

Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Thom Tillis of North Carolina have all voted against progressing Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill to be debated.

Tillis earlier said: ‘I did my homework on behalf of North Carolinians, and I cannot support this bill in its current form.

‘It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities. This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population.

‘We can and must do better than this.’

Meanwhile, Senators Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Rick Scott of Florida are still holding out on delivering their final decision.

They are believed to vote as a bloc.

Trump can only afford to lose three votes, meaning if the trio of holdout senators vote against the bill, it will be – at least temporarily – over.

If the trio vote in favor, Vance will be the deciding vote.

At a whopping 940 pages, Trump’s legislation is an ambitious but complicated series of GOP priorities.

It would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump’s first term that would otherwise expire by year’s end if Congress fails to act, resulting in a potential tax increase on Americans.

The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump’s mass deportation agenda.

But the cutbacks to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy investments are causing dissent within GOP ranks.

The Republicans are relying on the reductions to offset the lost tax revenues but some lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving health care through Medicaid.

Meanwhile, conservatives, worried about the nation’s debt, are pushing for steeper cuts.

Tense scenes were playing out in the chamber as senators huddled in negotiations, and then broke off for private meetings.

Trump has imposed a deadline of July 4th for the Big Beautiful Bill to be on his desk, warning senators there would be no vacations until it was a done deal.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told lawmakers last week to keep their schedules ‘flexible’ ahead of bringing them back in for the Saturday vote.

‘We can get it done,’ Trump said. ‘It will be a wonderful Celebration for our Country.’

Elon Musk reignited his feud with Donald Trump as he tore into the president’s spending bill in a blistering social media tirade.

‘The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country,’ Musk wrote in one of his X posts.

‘Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.’

Trump’s massive spending bill was notably the trigger for Musk and the president’s dramatic fall out just three weeks ago, with Musk taking issue with the bill’s estimated $2.8 trillion spending increases.

Trump slammed Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina in a furious Truth Social post on Saturday night after he voted down his Big Beautiful Bill.

‘Looks like Senator Thom Tillis, as usual, wants to tell the Nation that he’s giving them a 68% Tax Increase, as opposed to the Biggest Tax Cut in American History,’ he wrote.

‘He loves China made windmills that will cost a fortune, ruin the landscape, and produce the most expensive Energy on Earth.

‘I can’t believe that the Great People of North Carolina, a State that I love and won all three times, and a State that I just brought back with money, blood, sweat, and tears, from the recent tragic floods, when Sleepy Joe Biden let them DROWN, right up until the end of that Administration, without doing anything.

‘I was given an A+ Rating for the job we did in bringing it back, and Tillis, despite being a Republican, was MISSING IN ACTION.

‘North Carolina will not allow one of their Senators to GRANDSTAND in order to get some publicity for himself, for a possible, but very difficult Re-Election.

‘America wants Reduced Taxes, including NO TAX ON TIPS, NO TAX ON OVERTIME, AND NO TAX ON SOCIAL SECURITY, Interest Deductions on Cars, Border Security, a Strong Military, and a Bill which is GREAT for our Farmers, Manufacturers and, Employment, in general.

‘Thom Tillis is making a BIG MISTAKE for America, and the Wonderful People of North Carolina!’

Vice President JD Vance was rushed into the Capitol about 8pm on Saturday as it emerged that the Big Beautiful Bill would not have overwhelming support during the Senate vote.

It is looking increasingly likely that he could be a tie breaker.