Senate Majority Leader John Thune during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 17, 2025, in Washington. (Getty Images)
Trump’s smaller, $9 billion package passed with nearly all Senate Republicans, while all Senate Democrats voted against it. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., were the only Republicans to vote against the bill.
Once debate has wrapped up on the bill, lawmakers will go through another vote-a-rama, where an unlimited number of amendments can be offered for the bill by either side of the aisle. Democrats will likely try to sideline or derail the package, while the GOP is expected to offer an amendment that would spare about $400 million in international HIV and AIDS funding from the chopping block.
SENATE GOP BRACES FOR TEST VOTE ON TRUMP'S $9.4B CLAWBACK PACKAGE
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025, in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
He’s been joined by fiscal hawks in the House Freedom Caucus, too, who have demanded that the Senate GOP stay the course on the rescissions package and warned that they would have serious issues if changes were made, stopping short of declaring a full-on rebellion against the bill.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., hoped that his colleagues in the lower chamber would play ball and pass the bill ahead of a looming Friday deadline.
"There was a lot of interest among our members in doing something on the PEPFAR issue," he said ahead of the vote. "So, that's reflected in the substitute, and we hope that if we can get this across the finish line in the Senate that the House will accept that one small modification."
Alex Miller is a writer for Fox News Digital covering the U.S. Senate.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/senate-gop-blows-through-2nd-hurdle-night-teeing-up-trumps-clawback-bill-hourslong-debate