The US Senate continues to debate Trump’s budget bill

US senators continued their marathon session Tuesday to vote on a budget bill, as Republicans struggle to unite to deliver President Donald Trump the major political victory he craves.

Council members discussed the draft law for more than 20 consecutive hours during a session that began Monday morning, but did not reach a vote.

The president warned on his Truth Social page overnight that “failure to pass this bill will result in a massive 68% tax increase, the largest in the history” of the country.

Despite Republican control of both houses of Congress, the outcome of the vote remains uncertain, with some criticizing the cuts to social welfare measures to compensate for the tax cut.

This tension has fueled the dispute between Donald Trump and his former ally, Elon Musk.

The president is effusive about what he calls “one big, beautiful bill”.

“It delivers the largest tax cut ever, strengthens border security like never before, creates millions of jobs, increases military and veteran pay, and much more,” he said in a morning message.

This law has been one of his most important goals since returning to the White House in January, and is expected to represent a major legislative victory Trump.

Democrats, on the other hand, are seeking to delay the final vote as much as possible.

The draft bill will later be submitted to the House of Representatives, which has already adopted its own version, for final approval.

Time is running out before July 4, the US national holiday, which Trump set as a symbolic deadline for the bill to reach his desk for his signature.

For about a week, the president has been publicly urging senators to quickly pass the bill.

The bill extends the massive tax breaks passed during Trump’s first term, eliminates the tip tax, and provides billions of additional dollars for defense and immigration.

The Congressional Budget Office, which assesses the impact of bills on public finances in a nonpartisan manner, estimates that the bill would increase the national debt by more than $3 trillion by 2034.

Trump’s expansion of “tax credits” will cost $4.5 trillion.

To partially compensate for this, Republicans plan to cut Medicaid, the public health insurance program that millions of low-income Americans rely on.

It also calls for significant cuts to the nation’s main food aid program, SNAP, and the elimination of several renewable energy tax incentives passed under former President Joe Biden.

The Democratic opposition continues to criticize the tax cuts for the wealthy at the expense of the middle and working classes, which are already suffering under the burden of inflation.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said Monday, “This bill, as we’ve said for months, robs people of their health care, dramatically raises their electricity bills, and takes away their jobs, all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires”.

Conservatives have publicly expressed their reservations about some aspects of the bill.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis announced his veto, warning that reforming the Medicaid program “will cause hardship for our citizens and our rural hospitals”.

Other conservatives, such as billionaire Elon Musk, a former Trump ally, have expressed strong opposition to the bill.

“It’s clear from the shocking spending in the bill—which raises the debt ceiling by a record $5 trillion—that we live in a one-party state: a party of pigs eating each other up,” the SpaceX and Tesla CEO, a former government spending cut official, wrote on X.

The world’s richest man warned that if the bill passes, he will form a new party and fund the Republican Party’s primary campaign for candidates opposing current members of Congress.

The dispute between the two resurfaced on Tuesday, with Trump criticizing his former ally on Truth Social for the support he receives from the US government, without which he would be forced to cease operations and return to South Africa.