The massive government spending and tax bill working its way through Congress — dubbed the “big beautiful bill” by those on the right — is currently in the Senate, where officials have been rapidly churning through amendments. 

Marketplace Senior Washington correspondent Kimberly Adams has been following all the developments. She joined “Marketplace Morning Report” host David Brancaccio to give an update on where things stand.

David Brancaccio: “Vote-o-rama” — what have our senators been doing all night?

Kimberly Adams: So, as part of the rules of reconciliation, which is what's letting the GOP pass this bill without Democratic votes, senators can offer unlimited amendments, but the debate on each one is really short, like 10 minutes. So this gives senators a chance to change components of the bill, but it's also used as a messaging tool.

Brancaccio: All right, so like speed-dating but with implications for 30 and 40 years. What are some of the amendments that have come up, Kimberly?

Adams: Democratic senators have been very clear that they're offering amendments that, even if they know they're going to fail, they will highlight components of the bill that they think are harmful — especially cuts to social programs like Medicaid and SNAP. But some Republicans offered amendments, as well. For example, Maine Senator Susan Collins had a failed amendment that would have increased the size of a proposed rural hospital fund and pay for it by raising taxes on higher incomes. But one successful amendment that passed 99 to one this morning removes a provision in the bill that would have banned states from regulating AI for a decade.

Brancaccio: OK, so AI. And Republicans have the potential to pass the legislation without any votes from Democrats, but can only lose three votes in the Senate. What are some of the key sticking points that we're all watching for from GOP senators?

Adams: Yeah, some senators are really worried about those Medicaid cuts. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the Senate version of the bill would result in almost 12 million people losing insurance over about a decade, and Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina has already said he'll vote no because of that. Kentucky Senator Rand Paul says he'll vote no because of how much the bill would add to the deficit. And there are holdouts on other issues that could turn out to be that third vote.

Brancaccio: Now, even if the Senate does go for this, many issues are already causing problems with the House of Representatives, but especially the deficit.

Adams: Right, the Senate GOP used some, shall we say, unique accounting measures to reduce the cost on paper of this bill from more than $4 trillion to about $440 billion, and fiscal hawks in the House are very much not on board with that. So it's definitely going to be an issue, even if the Senate Republicans can get this passed. House Republicans are also worried about the Senate's more severe cuts to Medicaid than their version, as well as harsher rollbacks of green energy tax credits.