Race against time: How Congress barely made July 4 deadline on 'big, beautiful bill'

Football and basketball coaches are experts in clock management So are lawmakers Coaches are adept at either burning or saving just enough time on the clock to execute a play or prevent the other band from doing so Congressional clock management is very different TRUMP T MEGABILL SETS HOUSE RECORD FOR LONGEST VOTE IN HISTORYWhatever lawmakers say they will do it will invariably take them a profoundly longer period of time in which to do it That s why the temporal politics of passing President Donald Trump s big beautiful bill overwhelmed everyone who works on Capitol Hill over the past limited weeks That ranges from the lawmakers themselves to the aides journalists Capitol custodians and U S Capitol Police officers To wit Congressional Republicans have churned through variations of frameworks and iterations of the big beautiful bill since February But things in the end got serious when the House adopted its formal version of the package on May beating the Memorial Day goal by four days There was chatter that the Senate would tackle the House s package the week of June Then that fell to the week of June The idea was that the Senate would process its version of the bill that week and then allow the House to sync up during the week of June Then those hopes were dashed That s to say nothing of the Senate at least voting to proceed to even start debate at the very end of the week of June Here s what really happened And it underscores just how protracted the process can be on Capitol Hill especially with a very complicated and controversial piece of law On Monday June Republican senators talked about taking a procedural vote to launch debate on the big beautiful bill as early as Wednesday or Thursday June or Such a vote would require just yeas But the bill wasn t ready Republicans were still crafting and drafting the bill to comport with Senate budget rules The GOP also aimed to write the regulation in a fashion to court yeas to crack the procedural hurdle and formally start debate Midweek came and the Senate never took a procedural vote Sens Ron Johnson R-Wis and Thom Tillis R-N C opposed starting debate on a bill that was not complete So midweek morphed into the weekend and when the Senate convened on Saturday June Fox News was stated the chamber would take a procedural vote to begin debate around p m ET SENATE REPUBLICANS RAM TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' THROUGH KEY TEST VOTEWell you guessed it The Senate did not trigger that vote until p m Saturday And the -minute vote turned into a three-hour and -minute affair The Senate closed the vote at p m Saturday with Vice President JD Vance nearby in development his services were necessary to break a tie They were not At least not on the dais But Vance played a pivotal role in negotiating with Johnson Sen Rick Scott R-Fla and others to greenlight the Senate starting on the bill However Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer D-N Y then compelled Senate clerks to read the entire -page bill out loud from the dais That enterprise consumed just under hours of floor time The clerks their voices cracking and hoarse concluded a insufficient minutes after p m on Sunday This marked the first time a senator required the clerks to verbally read a bill before the Senate since So once the clerks concluded their oratory it was deduced that the Senate might go all night with its marathon voting session known as a vote-a-rama and try to finish the bill sometime by dawn Monday But this is Congress time Senators didn t even begin the vote-a-rama until am Monday Twelve hours later Senate Majority Leader John Thune R-S D suggested it was time to start figuring out a final group of amendments that were necessary to conclude the bill A few groaned at that notion One senator informed Fox News that hours later was a little late in the challenge to start figuring out something of that magnitude The Senate then toiled throughout the night Monday and into Tuesday Thune and the GOP leadership ultimately cut a deal with Sen Lisa Murkowski R-Alaska on rural hospitals to marshal her vote The Senate approved the bill late Tuesday morning after an all-night session Vance was back to break the tie in what is called a Van Halen vote The tally was - since three GOP senators defected But Vance s vote in favor made the roll call - For those who are uninitiated in the Van Halen discography was Van Halen s first album with new lead singer Sammy Hagar supplanting David Lee Roth It went to No on the Billboard charts Then it was on to the House HOUSE ADVANCES TRUMP'S MASSIVE AGENDA BILL AFTER FREEDOM CAUCUS CAVESThe House Rules Committee serves as a gateway for regulation to head to the floor It convened a meeting early Tuesday afternoon The Senate would soon send its revamped version of the big beautiful bill across the Capitol Dome for the House to align The Rules Committee then proceeded to meet until around a m Wednesday prepping the bill for the floor That meant the House could vote by late Wednesday afternoon But there was a difficulty House GOP leaders discovered what they termed a technical error in the rule The entire House must first approve the rule before debating provision on the floor So the House needed to vote on the fix first That vote started early Wednesday afternoon and continued for another seven hours and minutes That established a record for the longest roll call vote in House history topping a vote of seven hours and minutes in Selected Republicans weren t at the Capitol But they held the vote open to buy time to work on skeptical GOP members who may be holdouts And around p m Wednesday House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La decided to double-dog dare anyone who was against the bill to put their voting card where their mouth was Republican leaders closed the technical correction vote and proceeded to a vote on the rule If the House adopted the rule it could formally debate the bill The House was stuck if its members failed to approve the rule The tally board behind the dais in the House chamber populated relatively hurriedly All Democrats noted no There were also four GOP no votes and several who refused to vote yes Republicans could only lose three votes and still pass the rule Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky was a yes on the rule even though he opposed the bill He then switched to no as the vote dragged on However Massie ultimately supported the rule in the end HAKEEM JEFFRIES BREAKS KEVIN MCCARTHY RECORD WHILE STALLING TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL'Reps Victoria Spartz R-Ind Keith Self R-Texas Andrew Clyde R-Ga and Brian Fitzpatrick R-Pa were no votes throughout the vote But around a m there was movement The holdouts and particular of those who voted no met with Johnson and other GOP leaders That seemed to pry loose the votes of the holdouts and opponents except Fitzpatrick But there was a trouble Rep Scott Perry R-Pa who had not voted drove home to Pennsylvania So everyone at the Capitol patiently waited for Perry to return He did around a m Thursday Everyone but Fitzpatrick voted as a bloc in favor of the rule The House had the votes to begin debate on the rule It looked as though the House might vote around daybreak on the actual bill itself But the office of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries D-N Y had communicated Fox News on Wednesday that Jeffries intended to speak for an hour or so at the end of debate There s a custom in the House where top leaders of both parties are yielded a minute to speak on the floor But this is a magic minute As a courtesy to those leaders they speak as long as they want Jeffries began speaking just before a m Thursday and conclusively concluded eight hours and minutes later just after p m ET Thursday Jeffries shattered the mark of eight hours and minutes established by House Speaker Kevin McCarthy R-Calif in McCarthy set the record as minority leader So those House members hoping to hop an early morning flight and get home for July would have to wait Mike Johnson didn t speak nearly as long as Jeffries But he did observe that the late President Ronald Reagan once noted that no speech should run longer than minutes Johnson spoke for minutes And then the House voted in the end passing the bill - at p m Thursday Fitzpatrick and Massie were the only GOP noes It is noted that we never have enough time in life And if you work on Capitol Hill you ll allegedly have even less thanks to congressional clock management