Latest news with #BudgetReconciliation
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Thune, Vance cut deal with Senate conservatives to save GOP megabill
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) and Vice President Vance struck a deal Saturday night with a group of Senate conservatives who want bigger Medicaid spending cuts to save President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' from stalling. The deal hatched in Thune's office late Saturday evening paved the way for Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) to flip his 'no' vote on proceeding to the bill to 'aye' and for Sens. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), Mike Lee (R-Utah) and Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) to also vote for the bill. Without their votes, the 940-page bill to boost spending on border security, immigration enforcement and the military and to cut an array of taxes could not have advanced on the Senate floor. It advanced 51-49. The vote to proceed to the sprawling budget reconciliation package remained open on the Senate floor for more than three and a half hours, stuck for a long time at 47 yes's and 50 no's. For much of that time, the four conservatives — Johnson, Scott, Lee and Lummis — huddled off the Senate floor to negotiate a way to add new language to the bill to further cut federal Medicaid spending. The language in the revised Senate bill is projected to reduce Medicaid spending by $930 billion over the next decade, according to a preliminary analysis by the Congressional Budget office. But Scott and his allies wanted to do more to reduce the amount of money spent on able-bodied adults who are allowed to enroll into Medicaid in states that expanded the program under the Affordable Care Act, which was former President Obama's signature domestic achievement. 'I met with the president today, met with him quite a bit. Met with the vice president. We all wanted to get to yes and we're all working together to make sure that happens,' Scott told reporters after voting to advance the bill. He said conservatives want to 'stop Blue State governors from taking advantage of Red States.' 'Paying for health care for illegal immigrants with federal tax dollars is going to end,' Scott said. Senate conservatives say that Thune and Trump have committed to support Scott's proposal to lower the 90 percent federal matching share for new Medicaid enrollees in expansion states. 'We have been working behind the scenes,' Johnson told reporters who flipped his initial 'no' vote on beginning debate on the GOP megabill to 'aye' to allow it move forward. Johnson said conservatives got an agreement from leadership to vote on an amendment 'that we're confident of.' 'At a certain point we just don't allow single working-age, able-bodied childless adults to sign onto ObamaCare expansion and get that 9-1 match,' he said. Johnson said that states receive a much lower federal matching share for disabled children enrolled in regular Medicaid. He said that conservatives whipped 'something very similar' Scott's proposal within the Senate GOP conference and asserted 'it's very close' to getting the 50 votes in needs to be included into the legislation. Senators will now spend up to 20 hours debating the reconciliation package before holding a marathon series of amendment votes known as a vote-a-rama. A final vote may not happen until Monday. Senate conservatives feel confident that Trump can help secure a majority vote for cutting the federal Medicaid match share in expansion states, even though the proposal is likely to be a hard sell with Republicans who have already complained loudly about the Medicaid cuts already in the bill. 'The leadership wants to do this, too,' Johnson said. 'This is what was key about the two-hour meeting with the president.' He said Trump is 'willing to do what needs to be done to put this nation on a path of eventually balancing our budget.' The cap on enrolling new people into expanded Medicaid would be implemented at a future date to give states some time to adjust to the change. Selling the proposal to more centrist Republicans in both the Senate and House, however, won't be easy. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) declared in early May that a proposal to directly reduce the enhanced federal match for states that expanded Medicaid was off the table. And Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), who negotiated with Thune to increase funding for a rural hospital relief fund and to increase the flow of federal Medicaid dollars to Missouri over the next four years, warned GOP colleagues to stay away from bigger cuts to the program. 'I think that this effort to cut Medicaid funding is a mistake,' he said. 'We've been able for Missouri to delay it. … That's not true of all the states. And unless changes are made, after 2030 you'll see Medicaid reductions in my state. I'm going to do everything I can to defeat that.' 'I think that this has been unhappy episode here in Congress, this effort to cut Medicaid. And I think, frankly, my party needs to do some soul-searching. If you want to be a working-class party, you've got to deliver to working-class people. You cannot take away health care from working people,' he said. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), who has also voiced strong concerns about the Medicaid funding cuts in the bill, said she voted to proceed to the bill Saturday out of deference to her leadership but warned that does not mean she will necessarily vote for the bill on final passage. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GOP sneaks 10-year halt to State-driven AI regulation into budget bill
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. House republicans are trying to sneak a 10-year pause on AI regulation into the Budget Reconciliation bill. Representative Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who chairs the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, introduced a provision to the Budget Reconciliation bill last Sunday night that will prevent states and local governments from enforcing any legislation on AI. According to 404 Media, this limitation was inserted into an already controversial bill and would take away the power of individual states to regulate artificial intelligence as they would see fit. The text of the proposal, which is under Title IV, Subtitle C, Part 2c of the bill, says, 'In general — except as provided in paragraph (2), no State or political subdivision thereof may enforce any law or regulation regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems during the 10-year period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act.' This means that states will lose power over anything related to AI, as they cannot implement their own rules and must follow the federal directive. Several states have already enacted laws that control the use of AI in their respective territories. For example, California mandates that health care providers must tell their patients if they use generative AI to communicate with them. Furthermore, AI developers in the state must document and publicly share the information about the data they used to train their models — a crucial law to help prevent AI companies from stealing copyrighted data. New York also requires businesses that use AI for hiring to conduct audits of their tools to avoid any bias. The bill's text covers a broad spectrum of AI, including models, systems, and even 'automated decision systems'. This means that both new AI models and old algorithms that can make automated decisions are covered by the federal law. Many AI and tech companies have been trying to get closer to the new administration. Several key personalities involved in AI have become key members of the administration, including Elon Musk, former PayPal COO David Sacks, and venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who has invested in Facebook, Twitter, and OpenAI. The current government has also suspended or reversed former President Biden's executive orders aimed at reducing the threat of uncontrolled AI development. Follow Tom's Hardware on Google News to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Make sure to click the Follow button.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
46 State Medical Associations Urge Senate to Reject Medicaid Cuts in H.R. 1
The House Budget Reconciliation bill will cause at least 7.8 million Medicaid enrollees to lose their health care coverage. SACRAMENTO, Calif., June 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Just days ahead of an expected Senate vote on H.R. 1, 46 state medical associations, as part of Physicians for Medicaid have sent a letter to the United States Senate urging them to reject the dangerous cuts to Medicaid proposed in H.R. 1 that will cause millions of patients to lose coverage and even more to lose access to care - children, pregnant women, seniors, veterans, the disabled and working families. Statewide hospital associations have also weighed in, as proposed cuts impact all providers, including physicians and hospitals. The bill, which includes $200 billion in cuts to the existing and longstanding provider taxes, would have a catastrophic effect on state budgets and the country's entire health care delivery system and would impact 49 state Medicaid programs. Provider taxes have been authorized under federal law, approved by both Republican and Democratic administrations, and affirmed by state legislatures in 49 states for decades. They are a legitimate financing mechanism used by states in partnership with the federal government to fund essential health services and have kept rural hospitals, maternity wards, nursing homes, and physician practices open. The bill also imposes damaging changes to federal student loan programs making it harder for students to pursue medical careers at a time of critical physician shortages. We urge the Senate to pursue more balanced solutions that expand the physician workforce and preserve Medicaid for our patients. "If these provider tax cuts are enacted, it will create significant gaps in State budgets, forcing states to raise taxes, or reduce benefits, coverage, and provider payments. These reductions will lead to even more crowding of emergency departments and as the uncompensated care burdens grow from patients losing coverage, many rural hospitals, nursing homes, and community physician practices will be forced to close to all patients," the letter says. There are three main provisions in H.R. 1 (as passed by the House of Representatives on May 22, 2025) that will drastically limit or eliminate existing provider taxes nationwide. These provisions below apply to all provider taxes, including hospitals, nursing homes, managed care organizations, and other provider categories. Moratorium on New or Increased Provider Taxes (SEC. 44132) – Under the provisions of H.R. 1, none of these taxes could be increased after the passage and enactment of the law nor can any new taxes be adopted by the state Legislatures (there are 19 categories of provider taxes). This provision would freeze taxes and not keep pace with increasing health care costs over time. It is also not equitable between states. Revising Payments for Certain State Directed Payments (SEC. 44133) – Once a provider tax is established, state Medicaid programs can fund supplemental or enhanced payments to providers using a variety of rate methodologies. Under H.R. 1, any future directed payments would be limited to the Medicare payment rate. Medicare physician payment rates are already 33% behind the costs to provide health care. These rates will not keep pace for public hospitals and physician specialists that care for the sickest patients nationwide. Requirements Regarding Waiver of Uniform Tax Requirement for Medicaid Provider Tax (SEC. 44134) – The language in H.R. 1 requires provider taxes in multiple states to uniformly tax hospitals, nursing homes, and managed care organizations within each category of provider tax. The uniformity requirement will be extremely difficult for most states to meet and therefore, it eliminates multiple provider taxes in many states. The HHS Secretary has discretion to allow for a transition period, which is not something upon which states can rely. "These provisions will destabilize state health systems, reduce access to care, and worsen physician shortages. Instead, we encourage you to protect Medicaid – a proven, cost-effective safety net that serves 80 million vulnerable Americans," the letter concluded. View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE California Medical Association; Physicians for Medicaid Sign in to access your portfolio
Bloomberg
29-01-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Budget Reconciliation Won't Happen Quickly: Marc Short
Marc Short, Former Chief of Staff to Former Vice President Mike Pence, discusses House Republicans still working on a framework for their Budget Reconciliation Bill and the on-going debate if the legislation will be one or two bills. He talks about what will possibly be omitted from the Budget Reconciliation that the President wants, how a second Trump presidency compares to the first, and his view on President Trump pardoning the January 6th insurrectionists. Marc Short speaks with Kailey Leinz and Joe Mathieu on Bloomberg's "Balance of Power." (Source: Bloomberg)
