On Saturday evening, the U.S. Senate took a preliminary but important step towards passing President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), by holding a procedural vote to allow debate on it. It passed by a 51-49 tally.

Agreed to, 51-49: Motion to proceed to Cal. #107, H.R.1, One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

— Senate Cloakroom (@SenateCloakroom) June 29, 2025

It wasn’t a sure thing from the vantage point of Friday night, when Senate Majority Leader called the vote happening on Saturday “aspirational,” even suggesting that the Republicans’ self-imposed deadline of July 4 could be squishy.

Voting began just minutes before 8 p.m. Eastern time, with little wiggle room for nay votes considering three Republicans in the upper chamber had already said they were nos:

GOP Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sens. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin have voted against proceeding with debate. Republican leaders can bear no more than three defections while letting Vance break a 50-50 tie.

Earlier on Saturday, Sen. Josh Hawley (R_MO) said he would vote yes, but “he’ll still try to change Medicaid language” in the vote-a-rama:

Hawley clarifies he is not going to offer an amendment but thinks the language needs to be changed / will work to make sure cuts dont go into effect

— Jordain Carney (@jordainc) June 28, 2025

Also ahead of the vote, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) vowed to force Republicans to have Senate clerks read the full, nearly 1,000-page document on the Senate floor: [emphasis added]

“I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor,” Schumer said on X. “Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill

“So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor,” he said. “We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it.”

Schumer’s move is expected to take up to 15 hours and is designed to allow Senate Democrats more time to parse through the myriad provisions within the massive legislative text. Ultimately, it will prove a smokescreen as Senate Republicans will continue to march toward a final vote.

Here’s how my colleague Bob Hoge framed it, with his usual flair for humor: