Trump bill latest: President faces GOP holdout and Musk threat after record-breaking all-night voting session – UK Times

Here’s an interesting bit of stirring from Virginia Democratic Sen. Mark Warner:

The vote on amendment #45 a short while ago places this marathon session in the record books.

The vice president has arrived in the event that his vote might be needed to force through the bill, or perhaps to help corner Murkowski and Paul and beg them to play ball.

Actually, according to The Independent’s Eric Garcia, some of them have quite literally been playing ball:

At one point, Sen. Markwayne Mullin, the Republican from Oklahoma who has a penchant for carrying a bouncy ball around wherever he goes, decided to play a game of catch on the floor to pass the time with Republicans. At one point, he looked primed to throw it to Sen. Katie Britt from Alabama, who signaled not to do it. Though Britt could probably make a few receptions: Her husband Wesley played for the University of Alabama and the New England Patriots under Coach Bill Belichick (who now coaches the far superior University of North Carolina Tar Heels).

He adds that Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has brought McDonald’s breakfast for colleagues while the Democrats are still digesting their tacos from last night.

Here’s the latest dispatch from The Independent’s Eric Garcia on Capitol Hill, who is no doubt screaming for a cup of coffee by this point:

Republicans are basically locked in a standstill as they plan to pass President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act.” On paper, they should have the votes: Republicans have 53 seats and they want to pass the bill through the arcane process known as budget reconciliation, which allows them to avoid a filibuster.

But they face a quandry. After the provision to shore up rural hospitals by Susan Collins failed, she seems to be in the “No” column. That puts Republicans in a bind: Either they appease Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the moderate Alaska Republican, which would amount to massive carve-outs to their bill, or Sen. Rand Paul, the libertarian Republican from Kentucky.

In the wee hours of Tuesday morning, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, Murkowski’s fellow Alaskan Sen. Dan Sullivan and former majority leader Mitch McConnell cornered Murkowski in the back of the chamber.

Call it the Denali Deal: as part of the bargain, Alaska and a handful of other states would be exempt from the bill’s provision that requires states to shoulder a larger share of the cost for administering the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

The Senate Parliamentarian cleared this part of the bill in the early hours of the morning. In addition, another part of the bill raises the amount that Alaska whaling captains can write off from $10,000 to $50,000 as charitable contributions.

But there is one final sticking point: Top Finance Democrat Ron Wyden announced that Democrats successfully argued that a provision to give an enhanced federal matching rate for Medicaid to Alaska and a handful of other states did not comply with the Byrd Rule. That significantly weakens the bribe for Murkowski.

The alternative is to simply deal with Paul, who has objected to the debt limit increase in the bill. But this would force Republicans to work with the Democrats, which they always wanted to avoid.

Ultimately, Thune and the Republicans have to determine their price: dealing with the Democrats or a massive bribe to one Alaskan with an independent streak.

Shares in Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla have slumped in 24 hour trading after the billionaire’s feud with the president blasted back into life over the Big, Beautiful Bill.

Tesla’s shares fell sharply by as much as 6.4 percent to $297.35 on Tuesday, according to the trading platform Robinhood.

Trump suggested in his most recent Truth Social post that Musk enjoys too many subsidies from the U.S. government and hinted that DOGE should consider making cuts to the detriment of its founder, which would be a cruel irony for Elon should it come to pass.

John Thune and friends are reportedly unsure on whether to concentrate their efforts on wooing Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski or Kentucky’s Rand Paul over to the Trump cause, both of whom have different priorities.

Our own Eric Garcia is watching events for us on Capitol Hill and reports that the exhaustion is beginning to kick in for the senators:

The chamber has voted overwhelmingly to remove a 10-year federal ban on state regulation of AI from the Big, Beautiful Bill, supporting Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn’s amendment by 99-1, with Thom Tillis the only holdout.

Since the world’s richest man and the president are back at each other’s throats, here’s a reminder of exactly how their friendship fell apart in spectacular fashion last month.

Donald Trump has threatened to use Elon Musk’s own Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to investigate federal subsidies received by the tech billionaire’s companies.

Nearly a month after their explosive and very public breakup, Trump reignited his rift with Musk late Monday in response to the Tesla CEO escalating his anti-Republican rhetoric and his scathing criticism of the president’s showpiece tax bill.

The president also suggested that Musk may need to ‘close up shop and go back to South Africa’ without his support.

Here’s James Liddell’s report.