NEW: Senate Dems to force full read-through of Big Beautiful Bill before vote
“Senate Dems have decided to force the clerk to read the entire reconciliation bill.”
Senate Democrats have decided to force a full read-through of the Big Beautiful Bill before a vote. The procedural tactic will kill time, and the read-through will take several hours.
According to Punchbowl News reporter Max Cohen, citing a source familiar with the matter, “Senate Dems have decided to force the clerk to read the entire reconciliation bill.”
The read-through of the bill will likely delay the floor vote of the bill by around 12 hours, according to The Hill. The instruction came from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schmer (D-NY), who told other Democrats to prepare for a full read-through of the 1,000-page bill.
Schumer posted to X, “I will object to Republicans moving forward on their Big, Ugly Bill without reading it on the Senate floor. Republicans won’t tell America what’s in the bill. So Democrats are forcing it to be read start to finish on the floor. We will be here all night if that’s what it takes to read it.”
The read out will come after the GOP votes to proceed with the legislation and bring it up for debate on the chamber floor. As of Saturday afternoon, there were some holdout Republican senators in favor of a motion to proceed with debate on the bill, a procedural vote to get the legislation to the floor.
The latest version of the legislation was released late Friday night by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.
The bill had already cleared the House earlier this year before moving to the Senate. Earlier in the week, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough removed several parts of the bill, as her role includes ensuring legislation adheres to Senate rules under the budget reconciliation process the GOP is using to get the bill through with a simple majority.