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In the end, it came down to Senate Republicans having to handwrite additions to their 900 pages of legislation to get Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s vote to pass the inappropriately named “Big Beautiful Bill” through the Senate.
Murkowski’s vote only got the legislation to a tie, because Sens. Rand Paul, Thom Tillis, and Susan Collins voted no.
That is when Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote, and sealed the fate of the Republican Party in 2026 and potentially 2028.
The BBB exercise began with Trump hoping to outdo Joe Biden and pass bipartisan legislation. It ended in the Senate, potentially, with every fracture within the Republican caucus being revealed, as one Republican essentially quit the body by announcing his retirement, and all 50 Republicans who voted yes carried the anchor of a piece of legislation with a 29% approval rating around their necks.
