This is Brian Lair's Daily Politics Podcasts from WNYC Studios.

It's Monday, June 30th.

I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom.

I'm filling in for Brian for a few days this week while he takes a well-earned vacation.

The Republican-controlled Senate is voting this morning to pass President Donald Trump's tax and spending bill that would lower federal taxes,

increase border security, and pull the money from federal safety net programs like Medicaid and SNAP, commonly known as food stamps.

Over the weekend, the Senate held a marathon session marked by political drama.

Democrats worked to slow the vote by asking Senate clerks to read the entire 940 page, one big, beautiful bill act that took about 16 hours, according

to Newsweek.

The bill narrowly cleared a key procedural vote, 5149.

Republican Senators Tom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against

the measure, and Senator Tillis announced he will not be seeking

re-election in 2026. The nonpartisan U.S. Congressional Budget Office updated its estimated

price tag of the spending bill on Sunday, saying it would now add $3.3 trillion to the nation's

debt over the next decade. If the Senate approves the bill,

the House will begin voting on it on July 2nd. That's Wednesday. President Trump has set a

deadline for Congress to send him the bill by July 4th, Friday. Joining me now to explain the

latest is Nicholas Wu, congressional reporter at Politico with a focus on the House of Representatives.

Nicholas, welcome back to WNYC.

Thanks so much for having me.

Okay, Nicholas, so, you know, let's start with what happened over the weekend.

There was a procedural vote, which we'll just unpack a little bit.

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