With Republicans driving toward a vote on their tax and spending cut blueprint, Democrats plan to force them to cast politically painful votes on every element of President Trump’s agenda.
The Senate on Friday was hurtling toward a political showdown over President Trump’s domestic agenda, with Democrats planning to force dozens of votes during an overnight session to protest Republicans’ push to deliver “one big beautiful bill” of spending and tax cuts.
The G.O.P. needs to pass its budget blueprint to unlock a process called reconciliation, which allows lawmakers to fast-track budget legislation through Congress and shield it from a filibuster. Disagreements between Republicans in the House and the Senate about what should be in that bill had paralyzed them for weeks, but they have forged a fragile and complex compromise allowing them to move forward.
“This resolution is the first step toward a final bill to make permanent the tax relief we implemented in 2017 and deliver a transformational investment in our border, national and energy security,” said Senator John Thune of South Dakota, the majority leader.
But in the Senate, members can offer an array of amendments to budget measures in a ritual known as a “vote-a-rama,” a marathon of rapid-fire votes that often stretches on throughout the night. The proposals will never become law, but the process allows the minority party to force a series of politically fraught votes that can be used against lawmakers in campaign advertisements later.
Democrats plan to propose amendments forcing Republicans to weigh in on Mr. Trump’s escalating global trade war, Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Department of Government Efficiency, the G.O.P.’s proposed cuts to Medicaid and the recent use of Signal by national security officials in the Trump administration.
“All day long, Democrats are going to come to the floor to expose the sheer destruction of the Republican agenda,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said at a news conference at the Capitol on Friday.