Board of Trade Hours    9:30 am to 2:15 pm
                                       7:00 pm to 8:45 am                              


  Wednesday, June 18, 2025   
 Home
 Cash Bids
 USDA Reports
 Calendar
 Real Time Quotes
 Local News
 Contact Us
 QUOTES & DATA
Weather
Futures Markets
Market News
Headline News
DTN Ag Headlines
Portfolio
Crops
Options
Charts
 
 
Printable Page Headline News   Return to Menu - Page 1 2 3 5 6 7 8 13
 
 
Senate GOP Seek Tougher Medicaid Cuts  06/17 06:11

   

   WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Republicans on Monday proposed deeper Medicaid 
cuts, including new work requirements for parents of teens, as a way to offset 
the costs of making President Donald Trump's tax breaks more permanent in draft 
legislation unveiled for his "big, beautiful bill."

   The proposals from Republicans keep in place the current $10,000 deduction 
of state and local taxes, called SALT, drawing quick blowback from GOP 
lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states, who fought for a $40,000 cap 
in the House-passed bill. Senators insisted negotiations continue.

   The Senate draft also enhances Trump's proposed new tax break for seniors, 
with a bigger $6,000 deduction for low- to moderate-income senior households 
earning no more than $75,000 a year for singles, $150,000 for couples.

   All told, the text unveiled by the Senate Finance Committee Republicans 
provides the most comprehensive look yet at changes the GOP senators want to 
make to the 1,000-page package approved by House Republicans last month. GOP 
leaders are pushing to fast-track the bill for a vote by Trump's Fourth of July 
deadline.

   Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the chairman, said the proposal would prevent a 
tax hike and achieve "significant savings" by slashing green energy funds "and 
targeting waste, fraud and abuse."

   It comes as Americans broadly support levels of funding for popular safety 
net programs, according to the poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for 
Public Affairs Research. Many Americans see Medicaid and food assistance 
programs as underfunded.

   What's in the big bill, so far

   Trump's big bill is the centerpiece of his domestic policy agenda, a 
hodgepodge of GOP priorities all rolled into what he calls the "beautiful bill" 
that Republicans are trying to swiftly pass over unified opposition from 
Democrats -- a tall order for the slow-moving Senate.

   Fundamental to the package is the extension of some $4.5 trillion in tax 
breaks approved during his first term, in 2017, that are expiring this year if 
Congress fails to act. There are also new ones, including no taxes on tips, as 
well as more than $1 trillion in program cuts.

   After the House passed its version, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget 
Office estimated the bill would add $2.4 trillion to the nation's deficits over 
the decade, and leave 10.9 fewer people without health insurance, due largely 
to the proposed new work requirements and other changes.

   The biggest tax breaks, some $12,000 a year, would go to the wealthiest 
households, CBO said, while the poorest would see a tax hike of roughly $1,600. 
Middle-income households would see tax breaks of $500 to $1,000 a year, CBO 
said.

   Both the House and Senate packages are eyeing a massive $350 billion buildup 
of Homeland Security and Pentagon funds, including some $175 billion for 
Trump's mass deportation efforts, such as the hiring of 10,000 more officers 
for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

   This comes as protests over deporting migrants have erupted nationwide -- 
including the stunning handcuffing of Sen. Alex Padilla last week in Los 
Angeles -- and as deficit hawks such as Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul are questioning 
the vast spending on Homeland Security.

   Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer warned that the Senate GOP's draft 
"cuts to Medicaid are deeper and more devastating than even the Republican 
House's disaster of a bill."

   Tradeoffs in bill risk GOP support

   As the package now moves to the Senate, the changes to Medicaid, SALT and 
green energy programs are part of a series of tradeoffs GOP leaders are making 
as they try to push the package to passage with their slim majorities, with 
almost no votes to spare.

   But criticism of the Senate's version came quickly after House Speaker Mike 
Johnson warned senators off making substantial changes.

   "We have been crystal clear that the SALT deal we negotiated in good faith 
with the Speaker and the White House must remain in the final bill," the 
co-chairs of the House SALT caucus, Reps. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Andrew 
Garbarino, R-N.Y., said in a joint statement Monday.

   Republican Rep. Nicole Malliotakis of New York posted on X that the $10,000 
cap in the Senate bill was not only insulting, but a "slap in the face to the 
Republican districts that delivered our majority and trifecta" with the White 
House.

   Medicaid and green energy cuts

   Some of the largest cost savings in the package come from the GOP plan to 
impose new work requirements on able-bodied single adults, ages 18 to 64 and 
without dependents, who receive Medicaid, the health care program used by 80 
million Americans.

   While the House first proposed the new Medicaid work requirement, it 
exempted parents with dependents. The Senate's version broadens the requirement 
to include parents of children older than 14, as part of their effort to combat 
waste in the program and push personal responsibility.

   Already, the Republicans had proposed expanding work requirements in the 
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP, to include older 
Americans up to age 64 and parents of school-age children older than 10. The 
House had imposed the requirement on parents of children older than 7.

   People would need to work 80 hours a month or be engaged in a community 
service program to qualify.

   One Republican, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, has joined a few others pushing 
to save Medicaid from steep cuts -- including to the so-called provider tax 
that almost all states levy on hospitals as a way to help fund their programs.

   The Senate plan proposes phasing down that provider tax, which is now up to 
6%. Starting in 2027, the Senate looks to gradually lower that threshold until 
it reaches 3.5% in 2031, with exceptions for nursing homes and intermediate 
care facilities.

   Hawley slammed the Senate bill's changes on the provider tax. "This needs a 
lot of work. It's really concerning and I'm really surprised by it," he said. 
"Rural hospitals are going to be in bad shape."

   The Senate also keeps in place the House's proposed new $35-per-service 
co-pay imposed on some Medicaid patients who earn more than the poverty line, 
which is about $32,000 a year for a family of four, with exceptions for some 
primary, prenatal, pediatric and emergency room care.

   And Senate Republicans are seeking a slower phase-out of some Biden-era 
green energy tax breaks to allow continued develop of wind, solar and other 
projects that the most conservative Republicans in Congress want to end more 
quickly. Tax breaks for electric vehicles would be immediately eliminated.

   Conservative Republicans say the cuts overall don't go far enough, and they 
oppose the bill's provision to raise the national debt limit by $5 trillion to 
allow more borrowing to pay the bills.

   "We've got a ways to go on this one," said Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis.

 
 
Copyright DTN. All rights reserved. Disclaimer.
Powered By DTN