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WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans voting in a dramatic late Saturday session narrowly cleared a key procedural step as they race to advance President Donald Trump's package of by his July Fourth deadline.

The tally, 51-49, came after a tumultuous session with Vice President JD Vance on hand if needed to break the tie. Tense scenes played out in the chamber as voting came to a standstill, dragging for hours as holdout senators huddled for negotiations. In the end, two Republicans opposed the motion to proceed to debate, joining all Democrats.

It's still a long weekend of work to come.

Republicans are using their majorities in Congress to push aside Democratic opposition, but ran into . Not all GOP lawmakers are on board with proposals to reduce spending on ,Ìý and other programs to help cover the cost of extending .

Earlier, the White House said it "strongly supports passage" of the bill that "implements critical aspects" of the president's agenda.

"It's time to get this legislation across the finish line," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.

But as the day dragged, billionaire Elon Musk lashed out against the package. "The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!" the former top Trump aide said in a post.

The 940-page bill was released shortly before midnight Friday, and senators were expected to grind through the hours of all-night debate and amendments in the days ahead. If the Senate is able to pass it, the bill would go back to the House for a final round of votes before it could reach the White House.

With the narrow Republican majorities in the House and Senate, leaders need almost every lawmaker on board in the face of essentially unified opposition from Democrats. Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky voted against the bill.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said Republicans unveiled the bill "in the dead of night" and are rushing to finish the bill before the public fully knows what's in it. He is expected to call for a full reading of the text in the Senate, which would take hours.

The weekend session could be a make-or-break moment for Trump's party, which invested much of its political capital on his signature domestic policy plan. Trump pushed Congress to wrap it up and admonished the "grandstanders" among GOP holdouts to fall in line.

The legislation would make permanent many of the tax breaks from Trump's first term that would otherwise expire by year's end. The bill would add new breaks, including no taxes on tips, and commit $350 billion to national security, including for Trump's mass deportation agenda.

But the cutbacks to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy investments, which a top Democrat, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said would be a "death sentence" for America's wind and solar industries, also caused dissent within GOP ranks.

Some Republican lawmakers say the cuts go too far, particularly for people receiving health care through Medicaid. Meanwhile, conservatives, worried about the nation's debt, urge steeper cuts.

Tillis, who said he spoke with Trump late Friday explaining his concerns, announced Saturday he cannot support the package as is, largely because he said the health care changes would force his state to "make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands."

The release of that draft was delayed as the Senate parliamentarian reviewed the bill to ensure it complied with the chamber's strict "Byrd Rule," named for the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va. It largely bars policy matters from inclusion in budget bills unless a provision can get 60 votes to overcome objections. That would be a tall order in a Senate with a 53-47 GOP edge and Democrats unified against Trump's bill.

The parliamentarian deemed several proposals, including shifting food stamp costs from the federal government to the states or gutting the funding structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, out of compliance with the rules.

Republicans quickly revised those proposals and reinstated them.

The final text includes proposed cuts to the Medicaid provider tax that ran into parliamentary hurdles and objections from several senators worried about the fate of rural hospitals. The new version extends the start date for those cuts and establishes a $25 billion fund to aid rural hospitals and providers. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who opposed the cuts, vowed "to do everything I can" to make sure the reductions never go in effect.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said that under the House-passed version of the bill, about 10.9 million more people would go without health care and at least 3 million fewer would qualify for food aid. The CBO has not yet publicly assessed the Senate draft, which proposes steeper reductions.

Top income-earners would see about a $12,000 tax cut under the House bill, while the package would cost the poorest Americans $1,600, the CBO said.

The Senate included a compromise over the so-called SALT provision, a deduction for state and local taxes that has been a top priority of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states, but the issue remains unsettled.

The current SALT cap is $10,000 a year, and a handful of Republicans wanted to boost it to $40,000 a year. The final draft includes a $40,000 cap, but limits it for five years.

Many Republican senators say that is still too generous. At least one House GOP holdout, Rep. Nick LaLota of New York, said that would be insufficient.