WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Senate Republicans on July 1 passed their version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would enact key provisions of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda on taxes and immigration, without any Democratic support and losing three members of their ranks.
The House would need to approve the Senate's changes to the bill before it could reach the president's desk for his signature. Trump has sought to do so by Independence Day, July 4.
Catholic leaders have alternately praised and criticized various provisions in the legislation, which has drawn fire from some over its cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, while drawing praise from others for promises to eliminate funds to health providers who also perform abortions.
Earlier in June, 20 U.S. Catholic bishops signed onto an interfaith effort urging the Senate to reject the bill, citing cuts to nutrition assistance and Medicaid, among other concerns.
The Senate worked through the previous weekend as Republican leadership sought to meet Trump's deadline and secure enough support from their members, while Democrats used a Senate procedure to require the bill to be read in its entirety out loud by the clerk in the chamber, a process that took nearly 16 hours.
Sens. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Susan Collins, R-Maine, broke with other members of their party to reject the bill, meaning that Vice President JD Vance had to break the tie, resulting in a 51-50 vote. Its passage came after Republicans secured the vote of Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, a late holdout.
"The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The OBBB fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass," Vance, a Catholic, argued on X prior to the bill's passage, adding, "Everything else – the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy – is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions."
Tillis, one of the Republicans who voted against proceeding to debate on the bill, said in comments on the Senate floor that he opposed the legislation because it "will betray the very promise” the president made when he pledged not to cut Medicaid benefits.
