Budget bill gets Senate green light

After razor-thin vote, stage set for House showdown as deadline looms

The US Senate passed President Donald Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act on Tuesday in a razor-thin 51-50 vote, with Vice-President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote, pushing the flagship second-term legislation one step closer to becoming law.

The Senate vote, following a 24-hour session of amendments, marked a significant victory for Trump's agenda but set the stage for a contentious battle in the House as a Friday deadline set by Trump looms.

The OBBBA, a comprehensive package extending the 2017 tax cuts, slashing social programs like Medicaid and boosting funds for border security, passed the Senate after intense negotiations. Senate Majority Leader John Thune navigated a delicate path, securing support from holdouts like Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who won a $50 billion rural hospital fund to offset Medicaid cuts and exempting her state from strict new food stamp rules for two years, according to CNN and CNBC. "I struggled mightily with the Medicaid impacts," Murkowski told reporters on Tuesday, citing concerns over Alaska's rural healthcare.