Vance optimistic on passing 'big, beautiful bill' before July 4

Vice President JD Vance on Tuesday sounded an optimistic tone in asserting the belief that Congress was well-situated to pass the "big, beautiful bill" before the July 4 recess.

The legislation is a colossal compilation of many of President Donald Trump's key legislative priorities, carefully tailored to remain compliant with the Senate's reconciliation rules so as to avoid the 60-vote filibuster threshold.

Some Republicans have expressed frustrations with the bill's spending provisions and its passage remains far from certain.

“I mean, look, I can’t make any promises … I can’t predict the future, but I do think that we’re in a good place to get this done by the July 4 recess,” the vice president told reporters.

At present, libertarian-leaning Republicans, such as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., have vowed to oppose the bill, asserting it would add too much to the debt in the long term. Others have taken issue with changes to the state-and-local-tax (SALT) deduction cap, which blue-state Republicans have sought to raise.

Republicans can ill-afford defections in the narrowly divided Congress.