An earlier version of this article was first published in the On the Hill newsletter. Sign up to receive the newsletter in your inbox on Friday mornings here. At times, it felt impossible.

But if there’s something GOP leaders want people to know: Don’t underestimate the power of President Donald Trump’s influence over the Republican Party. For months, Republicans have been operating under the self-imposed deadline of July 4 to pass Trump’s big, beautiful bill: The trillion-dollar spending package containing his top domestic priorities on border security, energy, national defense and tax cuts. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Trump did in fact sign the bill on the Fourth of July, on the White House lawn surrounded by the Republican lawmakers who helped make it happen.

This time last week that deadline looked all but impossible when Senate Republicans slipped past their original plan to vote on the package on Thursday afternoon — and party leaders, including Trump himself began to suggest they would have to push past July 4. But then came the weekend, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other top Republicans were adamant to get this thing through. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., is flanked by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., the GOP whip, left, and Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, as he speaks to reporters after passage of the budget reconciliation package of President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and spending cuts, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 1, 2025.

| J. Scott Applewhite Here are some of the key numbers I crunched on Monday and Tuesday as the package made its way through the Senate: Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement 45 votes. That’s how many amendments and procedural votes the Senate completed during its overnight vote-a-rama session on Monday. That’s a record for the most consecutive votes recorded during a Senate session in history.

26 hours. That’s how long the vote-a-rama took from beginning to end, notching another record. Three blankets.

That’s how many I counted at one point in the Senate chamber during the overnight vote. Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, passed one back and forth as negotiations dragged through the night.

To be fair, the Senate floor is freezing. There’s really no singular reason as to why it’s so cold in there, but some theorize it’s to keep senators awake during long nights such as that one. (And it seemed to work, for the most part.)

Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Four holdouts. Senate math is tricky, especially when it comes to reconciliation. Because of quirky budget rules, Republicans only needed a simple majority to pass the framework — and they had the advantage of Vice President JD Vance to serve as a tiebreaker.

In this image from video from Senate Television, Vice President JD Vance, seated center, breaks a 50-50 tie to push President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks and spending cuts bill over the top, on the Senate floor at the U.S. Capitol, Tuesday, July 1, 2025, in Washington. | Senate Television via Associated Press That means Thune could lose three holdouts before needing to call in a Vance assist. But shortly before midnight it became clear there were four Republicans refusing to support the package, sending GOP leaders into a scramble to flip at least one.

In the end, Murkowski was the one to switch her vote, allowing Vance to break the tie and pass the framework in a 51-50 vote. Now on to my House calculations, where things were just as dramatic — if not more so. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Seven-and-a-half hours.

That’s roughly how long the House held open a procedural vote on Wednesday as Republican leaders lobbied their remaining holdouts to switch their votes from “no” to “yes.” History alert: That’s another record for the books, making it the longest vote in House history. Eight hours and 44 minutes. That’s how long House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., spoke on the House floor in opposition to the “big, beautiful bill.” And, you guessed it, another record: Longest House speech in history.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., left, speaks in the House chamber prior to the final vote for President Donald Trump's signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, at the Capitol, Thursday, July 3, 2025, in Washington. | Rod Lamkey 12 holdouts. That’s how many House Republicans were on GOP leaders’ lobbying list to sway their support in the final hours of a key procedural vote.

Republican leaders managed to flip four of the five Republicans who voted “no” (Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., remained opposed) and got the remaining seven to cast their votes in favor. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., surrounded by Republican members of Congress, signs President Donald Trump's signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. | Julia Demaree Nikhinson Dozens and dozens.

That’s the number of pizza boxes I spotted being wheeled into the Capitol building throughout the day on Wednesday. It’s a well-known fact that if you’re staking out a meeting and they deliver pizza (or any dinner food, really), you’re in for a long night. And speaking of food: At least a dozen reporters, including myself, won a bet against Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., for how long the Senate vote-a-rama would take.

The wager: If the vote was over after 5:45 a.m. on Tuesday, he would buy the reporters in the hallway lunch next week. Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement I even commemorated it in a post on X — just to make sure. Senate heads to next big task: Trump spending cuts After a monthslong push to pass Trump’s signature domestic policy bill, you would think lawmakers would get a break from any more deadlines.

Not quite. Remember DOGE? And the $9.4 billion rescissions package the White House sent Congress last month to approve Trump’s requested spending cuts?

Now is a good time to refamiliarize yourself with all that. The House passed the formal spending cuts package last month, but Senate leaders were insistent to finalize and advance the tax cuts legislation before turning their attention to something else. Now that they’re done, the Senate will get to work reviewing the cuts — and they’ll have just two weeks to do so.

Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Advertisement Due to strict rescissions rules, both chambers of Congress are required to approve (or reject) spending cuts requested by the White House within 36 days of receiving them. That means the hard deadline is July 18 for the Senate to greenlight the spending cuts, otherwise the funding must be unfrozen and allocated to the appropriate agencies. Quick recap of some of the biggest cuts included in the package: $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting; more than $8 million to the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR); and $125 million from the the United States Agency for International Development.

There are more cuts included in the package, but those are the most contentious — and could be tough for some Republicans to accept. Reminder: Four Republicans in the House voted against it. The Senate can only afford three.

What’s next The Senate is back next to begin consideration of Trump’s rescissions package. The House canceled planned votes next week after an unexpected overnight session to pass Trump’s tax package.