Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) expects the Senate to begin voting on its version of the budget reconciliation bill on Friday, with action continuing through the weekend.
This bill would make even steeper Medicaid cuts than the House bill: view a side by side comparisonof the Senate and the House bills.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has told Representatives not to leave town this weekend, anticipating Senate action and the need for an immediate House floor vote in order to meet Republicans’ self-imposed July 4 deadline to get a bill to President Trump to be signed into law.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED
Quick action is needed given the short timeline for the Senate to complete their work.
Notably, Sen. Thune has not confirmed whether he has secured the necessary 51 votes to pass the Senate bill, so our messages now will have a tremendous impact. All senators should be engaged/contacted, but please refer to our Senate target listwhere most immediate outreach is needed.
FURTHER INSIGHTS
On June 24, a group of 16 House Republicans sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson urging them to include the less severe House Medicaid provisions in the final budget reconciliation bill, in order to pursue "a more pragmatic and compassionate standard" than that of the Senate bill. Eleven of the letter signers also joined an April letter to House leadership asking for support of Medicaid services for "our nation's most vulnerable populations."
A new report by The Commonwealth Fund (which supports independent health research and promotes a high-performing, equitable healthcare system) analyzes the economic and employment impacts of the House budget reconciliation bill.
Based on the steep Medicaid and SNAP funding cuts the bill contains, the overall impact is to reduce jobs by 1.2 million nationwide, equivalent to about a 0.8% increase in the unemployment rate.
Late last week, the Senate Parliamentarianruled that several key banking and financial provisions of the Senate bill must be removed or changed because they do not comply with the stringent rules of the budget reconciliation process--these rules allow Senate leaders to pass the bill with a simple majority of 51 votes.
These provisions represent a significant portion of the cost savings Senate leaders hoped to achieve in the bill, so if they are unable to revise the language to comply with the rules, there may be even more pressure to include steep cuts to Medicaid and other human services programs.
What You Can Do Now: Outreach to the Senate is at a Critical Stage
Here We Stand. For People. For Care. For Medicaid.
Use the messaging toolkit for our “Here We Stand” campaign which includes templates to use for outreach to members of Congress and the media.
The recording of our recent webinar which includes a walk-through of the messaging and how to use the communications resources.
As states also fund a significant share of Medicaid funding, please communicate with your governor’s office about the impact of any Medicaid cuts.
Stay Tuned
Register now to join us for the next webinar in our “Capitol Conversations” series on July 17 at 1 p.m. ET. We will be sharing the latest updates on the budget reconciliation process and the impact on Medicaid and nonprofits, as well as expert insights on pursuing federal funding opportunities.
For more information, please contact Sarah Dobson, Senior Director of Public Policy and Advocacy.
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