Spanish
Washington, July 1 (EFE).- The United States Senate continues this Tuesday a marathon vote on President Donald Trump's fiscal and budgetary megaproject, who was optimistic today that the Republican majority in Congress will reach agreements so that the text reaches his desk as soon as it is approved and before next Friday.
"This law proposes the biggest tax cut in history. Hopefully, today we will achieve its definitive progress in the Senate," the president told reporters at the White House, before leaving this morning for Florida to tour a future migrant detention center known as the 'Alligator Alcatraz'.
After 22 hours of debate, the Upper House has already issued 45 consecutive votes in the so-called 'vote-a-rama', the longest in the history of that legislative unit, a process in which senators vote on amendments to the bill, which seeks to extend the budget cuts of Trump's first term (2017-2021), impose greater restrictions on public spending and approve greater funds for defense and immigration control.
Up to this moment, this record stood at 44 votes registered in March 2008.
Vice President JD Vance arrived at the Capitol this morning to preside over the session and cast a possible tie-breaking vote in a future final vote, although it is not yet clear whether Republicans have all the support within their own party to pass what was dubbed the "big and beautiful bill".
Vance, a former senator from the state of Ohio, will work with the Republican majority leader in the Senate, John Thune, to try to convince skeptics within the conservative group.
To move forward with the legislation and send it back to the House of Representatives, where it will also be debated before its final approval, Republicans can only afford to lose the support of three of the 53 senators they have in the chamber. The remaining 45 Democratic senators and the two independents are expected to oppose the law.
Several conservative Republicans from the more extreme wing have expressed their disagreement with the high cost of the legislation, which would add $3.3 trillion to the public debt over a 10-year period, according to a new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a calculation that exceeds the $2.4 trillion of the version approved on May 22 by the House of Representatives.
On the other hand, a group of more moderate Republican senators are concerned about cuts to the Medicaid medical plan - which assists low-income people - and the SNAP food assistance program; and the effects that these limitations would have on their communities.
During the long night session, which is expected to extend into the day as well, senators voted on several of the provisions included in the text of the law, including the elimination of a provision that would have prevented states from regulating the development of Artificial Intelligence.
Once the mega-bill passes through the Senate, it will return to the House of Representatives, -with a narrow Republican majority-, which will review the approved changes and where lawmakers are also expected to work against the clock to meet the July 4 deadline, American Independence Day, imposed by Trump for the signing of the regulations.
