On the Senate floor Friday evening, all eyes were on Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who emerged as a pivotal vote on the “Big Beautiful Bill,” holding out for hours before ultimately casting a decisive “Aye” that helped advance the Republican-led measure by the slimmest possible margin.
The Senate convened at 10 am Alaska time to begin a day of deliberations and voting on the controversial domestic policy package, which includes a sweeping array of tax, spending, and regulatory provisions. By 5 pm, the vote had been open for over an hour, and the count stood at 50 against and 46 in favor of the bill. All Democrats had voted “No,” joined by Republican Senators Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Sen. Murkowski had yet to vote.
Murkowski remained in her seat during the high-stakes proceedings, at one point engaged in a long conversation with Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Her presence and silence loomed large in the chamber — she was, it seemed in that moment, in the rare position to either doom or deliver the bill’s path forward. The tension in the chamber was palpable.
At approximately 5:20 pm, Murkowski stood and made her way to the well of the Senate. She spoke briefly with the clerk, who then recorded her vote as “Aye,” nudging the tally to 47 in favor and 50 against. Her vote did not secure passage on its own, but it signaled to Senate watchers that the Republican leadership still had a chance to clinch the win, but only if the three remaining GOP senators could be brought on board.
Those three senators — Mike Lee of Utah, Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, and Rick Scott of Florida — had not been on the floor during the early stages of the vote. Sources indicated they were involved in negotiations with the Trump administration, which had been working to secure final votes behind closed doors. Murkowski was not part of those negotiations, suggesting her support had been determined separately from the ongoing deal-making.
Roughly an hour after Murkowski’s vote, all three of the remaining Republican holdouts filed into the chamber and voted “Aye.” That brought the total to 50–50, setting the stage for Vice President J.D. Vance to cast the tie-breaking vote. He was sitting nearby ready to act.
Then Sen. Ron Johnson flipped his vote from “No” back to “Aye.” and the motion to proceed passed 51-49. Only Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Rand Paul were “No” votes on the Republican side.
The New York Times later reported that Murkowski’s support was won through “lavish” policy concessions to Alaskans written into the bill, but the story is more complicated. She did, however, win concessions in the SNAP program and Medicaid.
With the procedural hurdle now cleared, the Senate is expected to begin formal debate and amendment consideration on the bill. Murkowski’s vote to proceed to the main vote does not guarantee that she will support the bill.