'Vote YAY': Trump celebrates narrow win in Congress

Welcome to the madhouse we call “Earth”.

As mentioned in a previous post, the American Senate has passed the piece of legislation Mr Trump insists on calling the “Big, Beautiful Bill”. It’s essentially a budget megabill, including the renewal of tax cuts, slashes to spending on health, funding for immigration enforcement, and a bunch of other things that build up to a multi-trillion dollar expansion of America’s already considerable deficit.

“It is no longer a ‘House Bill’ or a ‘Senate Bill’. It is everyone’s Bill. There is so much to be proud of, and EVERYONE got a major Policy WIN,” Mr Trump, in a quite celebratory mood, posted on social media a short time ago.

“Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security Benefits are not being cut, but are being STRENGTHENED and PROTECTED from the Radical and Destructive Democrats by eliminating Waste, Fraud, and Abuse from those Programs.

“To my GOP (Republican) friends in the House: Stay UNITED, have fun, and Vote YAY.”

Is that a play on the word “yea”, which would usually be used in reference to a congressional vote? Or does Mr Trump merely not know how to spell it? Who can say, he’s a man of mystery. This is the guy who gave us “covfefe”.

The legislation only passed through the Senate by a margin of 51-50, with multiple Republican senators voting against it. Vice President J.D. Vance was forced to step in to cast the tiebreaking vote. Now it goes to the House of Representatives, where there is also very little margin for error, even though Mr Trump’s party has a majority – some Republican members have expressed their opposition.