Donald Trump updates: Senate passes ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ in tight vote

This live page is now closed. Thank you for joining us for coverage of day 163 of United States President Donald Trump’s second term.

To go inside the contents of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, please check out our explainer here.

Then get the latest about the feud between Trump and billionaire businessman Elon Musk with this story. Or dive into Trump’s visit to a new Florida immigration detention centre, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”, here.

We hope to see you again soon.

This live page will soon close. Here is a summary of the latest events:

• Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote for the Senate to approve Trump’s omnibus budget-and-policy bill, informally known as the One Big Beautiful Bill.
• The vote, which was 51 to 50, included three Republican defections: Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
• The bill now returns to the House of Representatives, where a vote is scheduled for Wednesday.
• President Donald Trump has set a July 4 deadline to pass the bill, but conceded on Tuesday that it would be “very hard to do” by that date.
• The official vote tally from the New York City Democratic mayoral primary has certified Zohran Mamdani’s victory over rival Andrew Cuomo, with 56 percent of the vote.
• Trump responded to a question from reporters about whether Mamdani might block his mass deportation campaign in New York City by saying, “ Well, then we’ll have to arrest him.” He also denounced Mamdani as a “communist”.
• The Republican president spent part of his day in southern Florida, where he visited a new state-run immigration detention facility, nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz”.

In a statement on social media, New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani has clapped back at Trump for remarks that suggested the president was considering arresting and deporting the Democrat.

“The President of the United States just threatened to have me arrested, stripped of my citizenship, put in a detention camp and deported. Not because I have broken any law but because I will refuse to let ICE terrorize our city,” Mamdani said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“His statements don’t just represent an attack on our democracy but an attempt to send a message to every New Yorker who refuses to hide in the shadows: if you speak up, they will come for you. We will not accept this intimidation.”

Mamdani emerged as a dark-horse triumph in the June 24 Democratic primary, besting former Governor Andrew Cuomo.

But since then, he has been the subject of scrutiny as well as Islamophobic attacks. Born in Uganda to Indian parents, he is a US citizen.

Trump told a reporter in Ochopee, Florida, earlier in the day that he would consider arresting Mamdani if the Democrat blocked his immigration agenda.

“ Well, then we’ll have to arrest him. Look, we don’t need a communist in this country, but if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation,” Trump said.

“A lot of people are saying he’s here illegally,” the president added, spreading a conspiracy theory. “We’re going to look at everything.”

The FBI has announced that it plans to move its Washington, DC, headquarters several blocks away from its current five-decade-old home.

The bureau and the General Services Administration said the Ronald Reagan Building complex has been selected, in the latest development in a years-long back-and-forth over its location.

It was not immediately clear when such a move might take place or what sort of logistical hurdles might need to be cleared to accomplish it.

Director Kash Patel called the announcement “a historic moment for the FBI”. In his first months at the bureau, Patel has overseen a dramatic restructuring, which included plans to relocate employees from Washington, DC, to Alabama.

The FBI’s current headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue, the J Edgar Hoover Building, was dedicated in 1975.

Proponents of moving the headquarters say the Brutalist-style building has fallen into disrepair, with nets in place to catch falling debris from its sides.

Senate Republicans needed every “yes” they could get to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill on Tuesday, in a 51 to 50 vote.

One of the hardest votes to get was that of Lisa Murkowski, a senator from Alaska who had expressed reticence about the legislation.

Some Republicans opposed the nearly $3.3 trillion the bill would add to the national debt. Others, like Murkowski, feared that restrictions on the government insurance programme Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would disadvantage their low-income constituents.

In the halls of Congress afterwards, Murkowski reiterated her reservations, despite voting in favour of the bill.

“I have an obligation to the people of the state of Alaska, and I live up to that every single day,” she told a reporter for NBC News.

“Do I like this bill? No. Because I tried to take care of Alaska’s interests. But I know, I know, that in many parts of the country, there are Americans who are not going to be advantaged by this bill. I don’t like that.”

She also released a 415-word statement on social media, continuing to express concerns.

“It is the people of Alaska that I worry about the most, especially when it comes to the potential loss of social safety net programs – Medicaid coverage and SNAP benefits – that our most vulnerable populations rely on,” she wrote.

She criticised the haste with which Republican leaders pushed the bill forward. “Let’s not kid ourselves. This has been an awful process – a frantic rush to meet an artificial deadline that has tested every limit of this institution.”

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York has apologised for falsely stating that Zohran Mamdani, the winner of the New York City Democratic mayoral primary, made references to “global jihad”.

In a statement released to US media, Gillibrand said she regretted “mischaracterising” Mamdani’s record and the tone she took.

Mamdani, an outspoken supporter of Palestinian rights, will be the city’s first Muslim mayor if he wins in the general election in November.

But since winning the primary, he has faced a wave of Islamophobic remarks from both Republican and Democratic lawmakers. A spokesperson for Mamdani’s campaign said that he spoke with Gillibrand over the phone on Monday and that he hopes to move forward “productively”.

Some Democratic lawmakers have called on Mamdani to denounce the term “globalise the intifada”, sometimes used by pro-Palestine student protesters. Mamdani has not used the term himself and has pointed out that “intifada” is an Arabic term for a general uprising against oppression, not necessarily a call for violence.

Now that a revised version of the One Big Beautiful Bill has passed the Senate, it returns to the House of Representatives for a new vote.

But the House already considered the massive budget bill back in May. And the razor-thin margin with which the bill passed could foreshadow another nail-biter of a vote.

It was 6:54am local time (10:54 GMT) on May 22 when the legislation passed by a single vote, with 215 lawmakers in favour and 214 against.

The decision came after a rare all-night session, as Republicans sought to rally every vote they could muster.

Still, there were several notable defections. Tom Massie of Kentucky was stalwart in his opposition to the bill, and he was joined by Warren Davidson of Ohio in casting a “no” vote.

Another Republican, Andy Harris of Maryland, simply voted “present”. And two more party members, Andrew Garbarino of New York and David Schweikert of Arizona, were absent.

As the House prepares to take up the bill again, those Republicans are likely to face pressure from their fellow party members, not to mention the president himself.

All 212 Democrats are once again expected to vote against the bill.

Democrats in the House of Representatives have questioned Trump’s proposed deadline of July 4 for the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill.

They argue that a piece of legislation with such far-reaching consequences should not be rushed to passage.

“We’re rushing not because the country demands it, but because he wants to throw himself another party,” Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said. “This isn’t policy. It’s ego management.”

While the US Senate passed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill”, President Trump was visiting an isolated airstrip in southern Florida.

There, surrounded by the Everglades wetlands, the state of Florida has built a new immigration detention centre, dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz”.

Florida’s state Attorney General James Uthmeier has touted the facility as taking advantage of the natural environment to ensure security.

“If people get out, there’s not much waiting for them other than alligators and pythons. Nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide,” he said in a video introducing the site in June.

And Trump himself picked up on that theme on Tuesday, joking that escapees would need to zig-zag in order to avoid alligator attacks in the isolated wetland expanse.

“This is what you need,” Trump said. “A lot of bodyguards and a lot of cops in the form of alligators.”

Read more about Trump’s visit here.

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem has said that she is working with the Justice Department to assess whether the news outlet CNN can be prosecuted for reporting on a phone application that alerts people to the presence of federal immigration agents in their area.

Such apps have become more widely used as aggressive deportation raids spark fear in immigrant communities across the country.

Trump also said that CNN could be prosecuted, as he toured a migrant detention facility with Noem in Florida.

The Democrats say it’s a terrible bill. The Republicans believe that it will be on Donald Trump’s desk to sign come the Fourth of July, but it all hangs on the House of Representatives.

The Rules committee are meeting on Tuesday to discuss if it goes forward. Certainly, there are Republicans in the House who say that this bill is a mess, that it doesn’t follow Donald Trump’s agenda. It’s not what they agreed to by one single vote in the House way back in May. So now there’s going to be a process of discussion, debate, probably some threats and probably some arm-twisting.

The Republicans believe that they have enough votes to get this through, but there’s enough dissenting voices to make them concerned about what will happen over the next 24 hours or so.

The intention is still to get this onto Donald Trump’s test for saying that by the Fourth of July, at this stage, that is, by no means, guaranteed.

Asked about the prospects of the US reaching a deal on trade with Japan, Trump said that he did not think it was likely.

“We’ve dealt with Japan. I’m not sure we’re going to make a deal. I doubt it,” he said, adding that he could impose a rate of “30 percent or 35 percent or whatever the number is that we determine”.

He added that he was not considering extending a July 9 deadline for countries to negotiate trade agreements with the US.

After the passage of the bill in the Senate, Democrats have slammed Republicans for a piece of legislation that they say will hollow out healthcare programmes for the most vulnerable and lavish the wealthy and large businesses with sweeping tax cuts.

Here are a few reactions from Democratic lawmakers.

• Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer: “Senate Republicans have betrayed the American people. When people start losing their Medicaid, when people start losing their jobs, when electric bills go up, when health care premiums go up, when kids and parents lose SNAP funding, the American people will remember this vote.”
• House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “Senate Republicans just passed Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill. The extreme GOP budget hurts everyday Americans and rewards their billionaire donors. House Democrats will fight on with every righteous tool we have available.”
• Senator Elizabeth Warren: “After 26 hours of fighting on the Senate floor, Republicans voted to rip health care from millions of people and let little babies go hungry. And they cheered. I’m angry. You should be too. But this fight isn’t over.”
• Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: “JD Vance was the deciding vote to cut Medicaid across the country. An absolute and utter betrayal of working families.”
• 2024 Democratic Presidential Nominee Kamala Harris: “Thanks to Senate Republicans, 17 million people will lose their health care. Thanks to Senate Republicans, rural hospitals will close. Thanks to Senate Republicans, three million Americans, including veterans and seniors, will lose food assistance. Thanks to Senate Republicans, families will see their energy bills go up by $400 a year. Senate Republicans are doing all of this and more — hurting working people across our nation — in order to pay for $1 trillion in tax cuts for billionaires.”
• Senator Adam Schiff: “In all of my years of public service, this Big Ugly Bill is one of the most shameful and selfish acts I’ve ever seen. But it still needs to pass the House. And we are not going to stop fighting this thing.”

The New York City Election Board on Tuesday confirmed a stunning victory by mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani in the Democratic primary, clearing the way for the political upstart to be the party’s nominee for the November mayoral election.

The ranked-choice voting results released on Tuesday showed Mamdani, who started his campaign as a little-known New York state assembly member, clinched 56 percent of votes in the third round of the voting, where over 50 percent of votes are required for a winner.

The Associated Press called the race after the results of the city’s ranked choice voting tabulation were released and showed Mamdani trouncing Cuomo by 12 percentage points.

As the Democratic nominee, Mamdani will face the current mayor, Eric Adams, in the general election. Adams, who won as a Democrat in his first mayoral race in 2021, is running as an independent candidate after his indictment on corruption charges and the subsequent decision by the Department of Justice to drop the case.

After the election board confirmed Mamdani’s victory, Trump, asked how he would deal with Mamdani if he wins the election and tries to block arrests of immigrants, said, “Well then, we’ll have to arrest him. Look, we don’t need a communist in this country. But if we have one, I’m going to be watching over him very carefully on behalf of the nation.”

Mamdani earlier said that the immigrant raids were “terrorising people” and agents who carry them out have no interest in following the law. Since his win last week, Mamdani has faced a significant number of Islamophobic attacks from those in Trump’s orbit.

The US president has said that “conceptual work” has begun on his vision of renovating and possibly reopening Alcatraz, the famous prison in the San Francisco Bay that has been closed for several decades and at its peak had a maximum capacity of only 336 prisoners. The former penitentiary currently operates as a site of historical interest, with exhibits and guided tours, and is overseen by the National Park Service.

“Because of the Violence and Criminality I have seen due to the Open Border Policy of Sleepy Joe Biden, in particular allowing millions of people into our Country who shouldn’t be here, I wanted something representative to show how we fight back,” Trump said in a social media post.

“And then, it happened, I saw a picture of ALCATRAZ looking so foreboding, and I said, “We’re going to look into renovating and rebuilding the famous ALCATRAZ Prison sitting high on the Bay, surrounded by sharks. What a symbol it is, and will be!” Conceptual work started six months ago, and various prison development firms are looking at doing it with us. Still a little early, but lots of promise!”

The bill will make it harder to develop wind and solar energy projects, despite the removal of some contentious provisions, industry advocates and lawmakers said.

The Senate dropped a proposed excise tax on solar and wind energy projects that don’t meet strict standards after last-minute negotiations with key Republican senators seeking better terms for renewables.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, fellow Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski, whose votes were crucial to the bill’s passage, had introduced an amendment calling for removal of that tax, which caught lawmakers by surprise after it made it into the last draft text.

Many Republican states host large renewable energy industries. The Senate also changed language about which solar and wind projects can use the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act’s tax credits. In the Senate’s final version, projects will be able to use the lucrative credits if they begin construction before 2026. A previous version was based on when the projects enter service.

But overall, the Senate bill will make it too challenging to move forward with many new wind and solar energy projects, likely depriving the United States of added electricity capacity at a time of soaring energy demand, critics said.

That could mean higher consumer bills and lost jobs around the country at project sites dependent on the credits.

“Senate Republicans just voted to trigger the largest spike in utility bills in American history,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director at climate advocacy group Evergreen Action.

Research firm C2ES estimated that the United States will lose 2.3 million jobs as a result of the bill.

Another research firm, Energy Innovation, projected that the bill would result in a fall of 300GW of electricity capacity at a time of soaring demand due to data centre and AI growth.

A study published in The Lancet, a British medical journal, has found that the Trump administration’s severe cuts to funding for international assistance programmes could result in more than 14 million additional deaths around the world by 2030. That figure includes 4.5 million children under the age of five.

US humanitarian assistance, often distributed and coordinated through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), plays a large role in supporting programmes promoting global health, especially in poor nations.

The Trump administration, which sees the agency as hostile to its political agenda and has depicted it as a hotbed of left-wing sentiment without evidence, cancelled more than 80 percent of all USAID programmes after a six-week review. Experts have warned that the cuts could have devastating effects worldwide, with the effects felt most severely by poor communities.

In a post on his social media website, Truth Social, Trump says that the bill is a “major policy win” and hopes it will be passed in time for July 4.

He noted that “almost” all Republicans voted for the bill in the Senate, a dig at the small handful of Republican lawmakers who have criticised the bill or declined to vote for it.

“We can have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores its occasional “GRANDSTANDERS” (You know who you are!), and does the right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk,” he said.

“To my GOP friends in the House: Stay UNITED, have fun, and Vote “YAY.” GOD BLESS YOU ALL!” he added.

We’ve published several pieces recently covering all aspects of the Trump administration.

Here are a few highlights:

Explainer: Why is Musk calling for a new America Party over Trump’s Beautiful Bill?

Watch: Trump might ‘take a look’ at possible Elon Musk deportation

Quotable: Republicans “afraid of” Trump will vote for “Big Beautiful Bill”

Listen: What’s next for US birthright citizenship after Supreme Court ruling?

Let’s get you up to speed with the latest developments:

• The US Senate has passed a massive tax and spending package after 26 hours of exhausting debate, moving the Trump administration’s key legislative priority one step closer to completion, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote to break the 50-50 deadlock.
• Democrats have slammed the bill’s passage, saying it will lead to drastic decreases in health insurance access and substantial tax cuts for the wealthiest earners and arguing it amounts to an enormous redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich.
• The bill now heads to the House of Representatives, where Republican leaders have pledged to pass it in time for President Trump’s desired deadline of July 4, the date of National Independence Day in the US.
• Trump celebrated the passage of the bill, calling it a “great” bill with “something for everyone” and expressing confidence that it will easily pass in the House of Representatives.