On Sunday, Democrats used a political manoeuvre to stall the bill’s progress, calling on Senate clerks to read all 940 pages of the bill aloud, a process that took 16 hours.
It followed weeks of public discussion and the Senate narrowly moving on the budget bill in a 51-49 vote over the weekend.
Two Republicans sided with Democrats in voting against opening debate, arguing for further changes to the legislation.
One of those Republicans, North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, announced his retirement following that vote and said the legislation broke promises that Trump and Republicans made to voters.
“Too many elected officials are motivated by pure raw politics who really don’t give a damn about the people they promised to represent on the campaign trail,” Tillis wrote in his announcement.
The White House reacted angrily to Tillis’ comments, with Leavitt saying Tillis was “just wrong”.
Kentucky Republican Senator Rand Paul objected to the debt increase, and cuts to Medicaid.
During the full Senate vote on the bill – expected early Tuesday morning – Republicans can only afford three defections in order for the bill to pass.
If they lose three votes, Vice-President JD Vance will have to cast a tie-breaking vote.
The bill would then return to the House of Representatives, where leadership has advised a full vote on the Senate’s bill could come as early as Wednesday morning.
Fiscal hawks of the Republican-led House Freedom Caucus have threatened to torpedo the Senate version over budget disagreements.
The Senate proposal adds over $650bn to the national deficit, the group said in a post on social media on Monday.
“That’s not fiscal responsibility,” they said. “It’s not what we agreed to.”
