Senate Republicans pass budget blueprint after all-night session

(WASHINGTON) -- After about six hours of amendment votes, the Senate approved a budget blueprint Saturday morning by a vote of 51-48.

Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Susan Collins cast votes against the resolution. Every other Republican in the chamber voted for it, and every Democrat voted against it.

The resolution only needed a simple majority of votes to pass, so it now heads to the House for further consideration.

If the House also approves the proposal, it will unlock the next step in the reconciliation process and will allow committees in both the House and the Senate to begin drafting legislation aimed at accomplishing Republican wish-list items such as raising the debt ceiling, increasing border security and extending President Donald Trump's 2017 tax cuts.

The final package, if Republicans can agree on it, will be able to be passed with a simple majority of votes in both chambers.

Democrats were powerless to stop the resolution from moving forward Saturday morning, but they put up a fight by forcing votes on a number of amendments, including amendments on protecting access to Medicare and Medicaid, modifying or eliminating some of Trump's tariffs and protecting funding for caregivers for children and the elderly.

The Senate completed its vote-a-rama just after 2:30 a.m.

Though Republicans defeated the most eye-popping of the Democratic amendments, some that were offered got a sprinkling of across-the-aisle support from a handful of GOP defectors, signaling the challenges ahead in drafting legislation that's palatable to enough Republicans to pass muster when it comes up for a final vote.

Though an amendment that would have struck the instructions governing massive spending cuts to the House Energy and Commerce Committee failed, it got the support of three GOP senators: Collins, Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski.

This is the budget instruction that many Democrats say presents a risk to Medicare and Medicaid funding, signaling a possible hazard on the path ahead for any package that is cobbled together. Collins has signaled that concerns about cuts in this area of the package is why she voted against the entire resolution.

Collins, Murkowski and Hawley also supported the amendment to protect funding for caregivers.

With Vice President J.D. Vance's tiebreaking vote, Senate Republicans will only be able to lose three members of its caucus when a final package is put together.

The Senate will return to Washington on Monday for one more week of work before a two-week recess.

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