Vice President JD Vance cast his second tiebreaking vote in the Senate late Wednesday, ending a bipartisan effort to block President Donald Trump’s tariffs.
The Senate unexpectedly rejected the budget resolution, which would have blocked Trump’s “reciprocal tariffs” by taking back the emergency order Trump used to enact them.
The push was expected to pass, but two senators who were expected to vote in favor of the resolution, Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), were absent.
The resolution failed 49-49. Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), the resolution’s sponsor, Susan Collins (R-ME), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) voted in its favor. Whitehouse was attending a summit on oceans in South Korea. A McConnell spokesperson issued a statement that did not address his absence but said “the Senator has been consistent in opposing tariffs.”
The vote marks the second time Vance has been pulled as Senate president to cast a tiebreaking vote. He previously broke the tie on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s nomination after three Senate Republicans voted against him.
Vance, a former senator, played a large role in whipping Senate votes for Cabinet confirmations, including Hegseth, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard.
Given the administration is in its early days, it remains to be seen if Vance will be as active a tiebreaker as his predecessor, former Vice President Kamala Harris.
Harris cast 33 tiebreaking votes while in office. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who served in Trump’s first administration, cast 13 tiebreaking votes. Former President Joe Biden cast zero when he served as former President Barack Obama’s vice president.
The Senate had narrow Democratic control throughout Biden’s presidency. For the first two years, the split was 50-50, making it necessary for Harris to break ties. During the 117th Congress, Harris cast the tiebreaking vote for the Inflation Reduction Act and the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 stimulus bill.
By December 2023, she had broken the record for the most tiebreaking votes cast by a vice president. The first, a direct result of the hyperpartisan nature of modern Congresses, was celebrated by Democrats.
Republicans controlled both the House and Senate at the start of Trump’s first term, and Senate Republicans increased their majority in the 2018 midterm elections. Pence broke ties on multiple nominations to serve in Trump’s Cabinet and a vote that could have prevented the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
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The Obama-Biden administration had a filibuster-proof majority for its first two years in office, and retained a Democratic majority until Republicans regained control of the Senate in 2014.
The current breakdown, which will remain until the 2026 midterm elections, is a 53-47 Republican majority.
