The Senate plunged into a political showdown over President Trump’s domestic agenda that began Friday night and crept into Saturday morning, as Democrats forced dozens of votes during an overnight session to protest Republicans’ push to deliver “one big beautiful bill” of spending and tax cuts.
The G.O.P. needs to pass its budget blueprint to unlock a process called reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to fast-track budget legislation through Congress and shield it from a filibuster. Disagreements between Republicans in the House and the Senate about what should be in that bill had paralyzed them for weeks, but they have forged a fragile and complex compromise allowing them to move forward.
“This resolution is the first step toward a final bill to make permanent the tax relief we implemented in 2017 and deliver a transformational investment in our border, national and energy security,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader.
He added later, “Let’s let the voting begin.”
But in the Senate, members can offer an array of amendments to budget measures in a ritual known as a “vote-a-rama,” a marathon of rapid-fire votes that often stretches throughout the night. The proposals will never become law, but the process allows the minority party to force a series of politically fraught votes that can be used against lawmakers in campaign advertisements later.
Democrats said they planned to spend the marathon session forcing Republicans to weigh in on a series of amendments protesting Mr. Trump’s escalating global trade war, Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, the G.O.P.’s proposed cuts to Medicaid and the recent use of Signal by national security officials in the Trump administration.
“Our amendments will give Republicans the chance to join us in hitting the kill switch on Donald Trump’s tariffs, on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said on Friday night minutes before voting started. “Republicans could snuff it out instantly tonight if they wanted. Will Republicans join us tonight and stand up to Donald Trump before he craters the economy?”
