Washington (AP) – The Senate’s parliamentarian pointed out that a tax revision of a Medicaid provider of the tax cut by President Donald Trump and the expenditure account did not hold the procedural rules of the chamber and has made a decisive blow, as the Republicans end the package this week.
The guidance of the parliamentarian is rarely ignored and the Republican leaders are now forced to take hard options into account. The Republicans counted their top priority on huge cuts in Medicaid and other programs to compensate for trillion dollars to Trump tax benefits. In addition, the parliamentarian, who advised the senate’s chief counter for his often complicated rules, advised against various GOP regulations that refer to certain immigrants from health programs.
The Republicans pushed on Thursday to react, and some demanded these views, which have been used at work since 2012, reject these views. Instead, they worked to revise the various suggestions.
“We have emergency plans,” said the majority leader John Thune from South Dakota.
The expected voices on Friday seem to slide, but Thune insisted that “we plow forward”.
The Democrats, which are uniform against package as tax gifts for the wealthy at the expense of the American security network programs, said that process -related decisions would destroy the GOP package.
Senator Ron Wyden, the Supreme Democrat in the Senate Finance Committee, said the Republican proposals would mean 250 billion US dollars less for the health program: “
Trump wants to have measures on the bill
The result is a setback because the Republicans of the Senate run to a weekend meeting to say goodbye to the legislative template and to send back to the house before Trump’s period of July. Trump hosted the House Speaker Mike Johnson and other GOP legislators in the Eastern Zimmer of the White House, that from truck drivers, firefighters, top workers, cattle breeders and others, of which the administration says, benefit from the legislation.
“We don’t want to have grandstands,” said Trump about the GOP -Holdouts.
Trump said that in the up -and -coming tax breach package “hundreds of things”, spends cuts and strengthened money to carry out his mass deportation plans. “It’s so good.”
What is at stake
At its core, the huge calculation that the house has passed and is now being revised in the Senate is 3.8 trillion dollars of tax benefits that were approved by Trump during the first term, but in December expired that a tax raise will be imposed if the congress is not. In order to compensate for the income from lost income, the Republicans rely on steep reductions for health and food brands and impose modern fees.
GOP leaders already had difficulty collecting the support of Medicaid changes, some senators said they had gone too far and had left millions without reporting. The impartial congress household office said that more than 10.9 million people had no health care as part of the law. The Republicans of the Senate suggested deeper cuts.
After the parliamentarian had advised against the Republicans of the Medicaid provider, they would try to revise the destination to make them acceptable, possibly by expanding the start date of the changes. They hurry to find similar adjustments for other suggestions that encounter violations, including one to change the supplemental Nutrition Assistance program or food brands.
Everything is delayed on the law, but the Republican leaders have little choice. They count on the restrictions on health care to save billions of dollars and compensate for the costs of trillion dollars of tax cuts.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Rs.c., The chairman of the budget committee rejected calls to dismiss the parliamentarian, and said in the explanation that he was working with the office to “drive a way”.
GOP torn over Medicaid cuts
States impose the so -called provider tax on hospitals and other companies to finance Medicaid, mainly by increasing the reimbursements they receive from the federal government. Critics say that the system is a kind of “laundry”, but almost every state except Alaska uses it to provide health insurance.
The invoice recorded in the house would freeze the tax, while the Senate would reduce the tax that some states may impose.
Several GOP senators have refused against the taxes of the Medicaid providers and said that it would damage rural hospitals that depend on the money. Hospital organizations have warned that this could lead to hospital closures.
Senator Josh Hawley, R-Mo.
“I think it only confirms that we were not yet ready for a vote,” said Senator Thom Tillis, Rn.C.
More than 80 million people in the United States exploit the Medicaid program alongside the Affordable Care Act by Obama era. The Republicans want Medicaid to trace their original mission and mainly look after women and children instead of a much larger group of people.
In order to cover the income from the hospitals, a plan by the Republicans would have considered that a rural hospital fund with $ 15 billion would have created as a backup. Some GOP senators said that was too much; Others, including Senator Susan Collins from Maine, wanted at least $ 100 billion.
Difficult decisions ahead
The parliamentarian has worked around the clock since the end of last week to assess legislation and ensure that it corresponds to the so-called Byrd rule, which was named after the slow Senator Robert C. Byrd from West Virginia. It is essentially excluded political affairs in budget supply calculations.
If managers progress without changing the provisions that violate the rules, these measures could be questioned in a floor vote, whereby a 60-vote threshold is required to overcome objections. That would be a massive order in a Senate, divided 53-47 and with the Democrat against Trump’s law.
“It’s pretty frustrating,” said Senator Rick Scott, R-Fla, who wants to be steeper.
On Wednesday, the parliamentarian advised against the repayment of GOP student loans and on Thursday against provisions that blocked access for immigrants who are not citizens for Medicaid, Medicare and other health programs, including one that would do money on states that allow some migrants in Medicaid.
Previously, proposals to cut food brands were decided in violation of the rules of the Senate, as well as a plan to raise the consumer’s financial protection office.
But Senator Kevin Cramer, Rn.D. “It is institutional integrity,” he said. “Even if I am 100% convinced, it is wrong.”
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Kevin Freking, Leah Askarinam, Joey Cappelletti and Michelle L. Price contributed to this report.
