The sweeping national policy and spending bill backed by President Donald Trump is advancing, but just one of Kentucky’s two U.S. senators is on board.
Sen. Rand Paul was one of three Republicans to oppose the bill, which passed through the Senate on a 51-50 vote on July 1, after Vice President JD Vance cast a tie-breaking vote. Paul was joined in opposition by fellow Republican Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Susan Collins of Maine, along with every chamber Democrat.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, meanwhile, sided with the majority of Republicans and voted in favor. The bill will now be sent back to the House for final approval.
In a statement, McConnell said the vote is a “step toward fulfilling” Trump’s goals to “secure the border, restore peace through strength and American energy dominance, and give working families and small businesses relief from the Biden economy.” But he was critical of some components, saying lawmakers missed a chance to make an “urgent, additive investment” in national defense.
“Largely missing this opportunity makes the Congress’ work to secure robust topline defense funding even more important, and I will continue to urge my colleagues and the Administration to meet growing and coordinated threats to America’s security with the resources they demand,” the senator said.
McConnell has said his top priority before leaving office at the end of 2026 is working to get a handle on “most dangerous international situation since World War II.“
Paul, meanwhile, said he’d worked to “stop Congress from adding to our debt” during lengthy negotiations that took place before the vote and had told Vance the bill would have his approval “if it included a 90% reduction in the debt ceiling.”
“I wasn’t looking for favors. I wasn’t horse-trading. I was fighting for the American people and against our out-of-control debt,” he said in a social media post. “Bottom line: I offered my vote for fiscal sanity. Congress chose to sell out taxpayers instead. Only once the bill is released, we will know what the true price was.”
That potential price tag has drawn concern from several others in the nation’s capital — U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie has called it “a fiscal suicide pact between the White House and Republicans in Congress” — and around the country.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill,” as it’s been deemed by the president, preserves tax cuts passed during Trump’s first administration while investing billions in border security and the U.S. military. The 940-page bill is estimated to eventually add $3.3 trillion to the nation’s debt, according to the independent Congressional Budget Office, and includes deep cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program.
This story may be updated.
Reach Lucas Aulbach at laulbach@courier-journal.com.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: ‘Big beautiful bill’ Senate vote divides Rand Paul, Mitch McConnell