Freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) expressed clear frustration Monday over the Senate\u2019s marathon voting session on former President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d saying it disrupted his family vacation. \u201cOh my God, I just want to go home. I\u2019ve already \u2026 missed our entire trip to the beach,\u201d Fetterman told reporters. He added that his family would return from vacation before he made it back from Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n
Despite calling the bill\u2019s passage inevitable, Fetterman ultimately voted against it, noting, \u201cThere\u2019s no drama,\u201d and adding that only a few GOP holdouts might make the process interesting. Still, he questioned the need to keep lawmakers in session \u201cuntil some ungodly hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Senators began voting Monday morning on a long series of amendments and procedural motions that were expected to continue into early Tuesday. The holiday recess, originally set to begin days earlier, was delayed to finish debate and voting on the 940-page bill, which was released just before midnight Friday.<\/p>\n
The process has tested patience on both sides of the aisle. Staff worked through the weekend reading the bill aloud\u2014an arduous task that took over 16 hours. Meanwhile, senators returned Saturday night to vote on a motion to proceed, waiting around until nearly midnight.<\/p>\n
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) criticized Fetterman\u2019s attitude. \u201cIf you are here, you are damned lucky and privileged to be here,\u201d Boyle said in an interview. \u201cIf you don\u2019t want to be here, leave.\u201d He emphasized the bill\u2019s significance, saying the outcome would affect millions of Americans\u2019 health care.<\/p>\n
Fetterman, who has frequently broken with his party, drew rare praise from Trump last week, calling him \u201cthe most sensible\u201d Democrat in the Senate\u2014even though he opposed the bill.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer led a procedural effort to remove the bill\u2019s original title, \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d citing a violation of the 1974 Congressional Budget Act. The motion was upheld, stripping the title from the legislation just before final votes began.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Freshman Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) expressed clear frustration Monday over the Senate\u2019s marathon voting session on former President Donald Trump\u2019s \u201cOne Big Beautiful Bill,\u201d saying it disrupted… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7781,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7780","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\n