Last Saturday, the Senate voted yes to Donald Trump's budget proposal in a first step with the numbers 51–49.
Trump has set July 4, the US Independence Day, as the deadline for getting the budget through.
With no real chance of stopping it, the Democrats' minority leader chose to delay the process instead, by requesting a reading aloud of the 940 pages.
The Senate officials had to take turns helping each other and finished the monotonous task after 16 hours. Afterward, they were thanked by the Republican majority leader John Thune.
I know it has been a long night and that we are not done yet, but the Senate appreciates their perseverance and effort.
Then the next step, debate, began. According to the news agency AP, it will take at least ten hours.
The problem for the Republicans is discontent among some of their senators, who are turning against the extensive cuts in social insurance to finance tax relief.
Billionaire Elon Musk, Trump's former adviser, calls the proposal "completely crazy and destructive".
But for the proposal to become a reality, several steps remain. First, it must go through the Senate again, then it must go back to the House of Representatives for another vote. Only after that will it end up on Trump's desk for signing.
