The One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed its first Senate hurdle on Saturday, clearing the way for hours of floor debate and — in a last-ditch effort to slow the bill — a Democratic demand that its hundreds of pages be read aloud.

Republicans voted 51-49 to advance the megabill after hours of negotiations on and off the Senate floor, with holdouts extracting last-minute concessions in exchange for their support. Vice President JD Vance had been on hand in the event of a tie, but leadership ultimately flipped the vote of Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and two other undecided fiscal hawks.