Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) will be shelling out a litany of free meals to reporters after losing a wager pinned on his high hopes of voting President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” through the Senate overnight.
The senator made the lighthearted bet with journalists Monday evening as lawmakers camped out in the Capitol amid the “vote-a-rama” drama, the process by which they can add amendments to the bill before voting on its final passage.
Mullin bet that the bill would pass before sunrise early Tuesday morning. If he was wrong, the Oklahoma lawmaker told reporters he’d buy them food next week. If he was right, they couldn’t ask him any questions for a week.
After Tuesday morning came into focus with the vote-a-rama still going in full swing after 23 hours, it looks like journalists are in for a treat from Mullin in the coming days.
“We owe a LOT of journos,” a staffer for Mullin said.
Republicans are hoping to pass the bill, which focuses on renewing Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, but includes a host of other GOP priorities, by July 4.
However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has faced a daunting task corralling the various factions of his conference to support the bill. The latest marathon overnight session reflected the intense negotiations required to align the legislation with the priorities of 53 very different Republican senators — and to ensure it’s compatible with the version House Republicans must vote on again.
Much of the debate surrounds spending concerns and Medicaid reforms, while lawmakers overnight slashed a controversial provision prohibiting states from regulating artificial intelligence that House Republicans, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), had targeted for removal.
Vice President J.D. Vance’s arrival on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning could be a sign the debate is wrapping up after lawmakers surpassed the longest vote-a-rama in history, breaking a 2008 record for the most votes during such a session with their 45th amendment.
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Vance will likely be needed to cast a tie-breaking vote in order to pass Trump’s bill, which the president has pressed lawmakers to back.
“Republicans, the One Big Beautiful Bill, perhaps the greatest and most important of its kind in history, gives the largest Tax Cuts and Border Security ever, Jobs by the Millions, Military/Vets increases, and so much more,” Trump said in a post to Truth Social in the early hours of Tuesday morning. “The failure to pass means a whopping 68% Tax increase, the largest in history!!!”
