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After nearly a whole week of fighting, the Senate still hasn’t dispensed with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. So far, the GOP seems to be narrowly winning, but their colleagues across the aisle are certainly making them work for it.

In the House, representatives on both sides prepare themselves for a return to battle. If the bill finds its way to President Donald Trump’s desk before Independence Day, as the GOP and the president hope, it will arrive by ragged, tired courier – and there’s still no guarantee of victory in either chamber.

The battle began as soon as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act hit the floor. Last week, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough ruled that much of the reconciliation package violated Section 313 of the Congressional Budget Act – more commonly known as “the Byrd Rule” – a requirement that anything in a reconciliation package must directly pertain to the federal budget. It’s a protective measure to keep majority senators from slipping in non-budgetary policy measures that would normally need 60 votes to overcome a filibuster so they can instead pass through a method requiring only 51.

And so the GOP went back to the drawing board, cutting and rewriting, until finally – at midnight Friday morning, June 27 – they released the latest version. Later that day, the Senate convened for some debate and the first official vote on the matter. As Liberty Nation News previously reported: “After several hours of negotiations – much of which was spent with the tally at a 47-50 standstill – the measure passed 51-49 after the final three GOP holdouts said ‘yea’ and one ‘nay’ Republican changed his vote.”

But, of course, that full day of wrangling for votes was just one narrowly won battle in a larger war. This vote normally would have triggered the process by which senators can introduce an unlimited number of amendments. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) required the more than 1,000-page legislation to be read aloud in its entirety. And so that’s precisely what the clerks took turns doing for more than 14 hours.

And, as those who have caught on to the theme of this saga likely already guessed, this all-night fight was not the last. The upper chamber reconvened at 9 a.m. Eastern Monday morning – after only having been out of session since 1:14 a.m. – to begin the amendment process.

Vote-a-rama, it’s called, and for good reason. Between attempted amendments, motions to commit back to one committee or another, and challenges to the chair’s decision that various provisions don’t violate the Byrd Rule, Democrats have tried to derail the One Big Beautiful Bill Act at least three dozen times. Republicans, however, managed to block them at each turn. And, so, the slow and grueling process of what seems an eventual Senate passage grinds on.

Not all amendments were failures, however. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) proposed a section of the package be cut. The federal government has yet to pass a law regulating artificial intelligence to protect the rights of authors and performers – but several states have. The version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act currently making its way through the upper chamber included a five-year moratorium on state laws regarding AI. The Tennessee lawmaker asked her colleagues to join her and strike it, leaving states free to regulate where the US Congress, so far, has not.

The Blackburn Amendment passed with sweeping bipartisan support. And while there were initially three opposing, eventually all but one “nay” (Republican Thom Tillis of North Carolina) changed their votes to “yea,” resulting in an almost unanimous 99-1.

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Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also had a successful amendment – and brought a moment, fleeting though it was, of levity to the floor. “The federal government has a list of dead people. This bill would require those who administer Medicaid to check the federal government’s dead people list before they pay the Medicaid payment out. Duh,” he declared. “This bill, unfortunately, says that those who administer Medicaid don’t’ have to check before they cut a check to see if the dead person is dead until January 1, 2028. Duh! My amendment would move it up to January 1, 2027, so we would pay fewer dead people, who keep cashing the checks.”

Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) spoke, after a moment of laughter on the floor, saying: “Why would anyone vote against this? Duh! We can accept the voice on this amendment, and I yield back.”

“I accept the voice vote. Duh,” Kennedy replied.

Sure enough, the voice vote was unanimous. Duh.

For a time, it seemed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act might fail the Senate, as three GOP lawmakers – Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Rand Paul of Kentucky – voiced their opposition to the measure as written. Moderate Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Maine’s Susan Collins were always in doubt, as well. Ultimately, the ladies voted to proceed in the first vote, and Sen. Johnson changed his “nay” to a “yea.”

Later in the weekend, however, Sen. Johnson – who had previously said he would let the bill proceed through the process, but not necessarily pass – changed his position entirely, conceding that the bill before them was “about as good as we can get.”

“I don’t like it. I would like to get a lot more. But at some point in time you have to recognize reality, and if we don’t pass this bill, we have a massive $4 trillion tax increase,” he explained, justifying his newfound support.

But as reconciliation’s chances in the Senate seem to improve, they get worse in the House. Lower-chamber lawmakers announced they were ready to get back in the fight, potentially voting as early as Wednesday, July 2. If it clears both houses then and makes it to the Resolute Desk quickly enough on Thursday, Trump can sign it into law, take a quick victory lap, and take the time off to celebrate Independence Day.

But by Monday, House Republicans were more worried than excited. The changes made in the Senate bring massive changes to Medicaid, including cuts to federal payments made under the Affordable Care Act, a well-established “red line” for many House members. Some worry the House and Senate majorities will have to negotiate to hammer out the differences. They certainly can’t count on any support from the minorities.

Still others feel confident the House GOP will approve whatever the Senate sends them in hopes of winning this war by July 4. If not, however, it’s back to the drawing board all over again – and Trump’s dream of celebrating a big, beautiful bill on Independence Day is dashed.