Trump wants a vote and approval by July 4th….
It DON’T look Good for that target date….
The Senate parliamentarian IS cutting into the Bill….
Senate Majority Leader Thune says ‘right now’?
He will NOT overrule what she strips off the bill….
Some Red State lawmakers are upset about possible Medicaid checks to their states…
Other House RightWing Nuts ain’t Happy, Also….
High Taxed House members either….
Republicans aren’t panicking about their fraying domestic policy bill. But they aren’t exactly sure about how it’s all going to come together, either.
Senate Republicans emerged from a closed-door lunch meeting Thursday putting on a brave face about the megabill’s progress. Yet this time last week, members were expecting revised text of the sprawling bill Monday with votes starting a couple of days later. In other words, they thought they’d be close to done by now.
Instead, Majority Leader John Thune refrained from giving his members a specific timeline during a closed-door lunch Thursday, according to three attendees granted anonymity to describe the private meeting. Senators are preparing to stay in town and vote through the weekend, but internal policy disputes and procedural roadblocks thrown up by the chamber’s parliamentarian are keeping firmer plans in flux.
A July 4 deadline being pushed by the White House hangs over Capitol Hill as the only real forcing mechanism, and some Republicans said they were glad to have it even if many others harbor doubts about whether that target can be met.
“I don’t think it gets easier to pass going longer,” said Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota. “The more time we take, the more people find things they want to change.”
The latest blow for the GOP came after Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough warned that key Medicaid language would not comply with the strict rules that govern what can be included in a bill Republicans intend to pass along party lines using special budget rules. GOP senators expressed confidence they would be able to address MacDonough’s concerns, which some described as “technical,” and salvage the proposal.
But that, Thune acknowledged, will take time and threaten his plan of holding an initial vote Friday: “The parliamentarian’s decisions may push that back.”
Largely absent from the debate Thursday was President Donald Trump, who has the bulk of his legislative agenda tied up in the bill. He returned late Wednesday from a trip to Europe and held a White House event on the megabill Thursday afternoon. He talked up many of the provisions in the bill, especially increased border security and immigration enforcement spending, but did not address any of the key internal disputes.
His lobbying is widely seen as a necessary ingredient in getting the bill done. And for all the anxiety about the parliamentarian decisions Thursday, the more profound issue for Republicans are their internal divides about the policy provisions in the bill — particularly those dealing with Medicaid….
GOP senator calls for Senate parliamentarian to be fired after ruling against Medicaid cuts
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) on Thursday called for Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) to fire Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough “ASAP,” hours after she delivered a major ruling against a Republican proposal to slash hundreds of billions of dollars in federal Medicaid spending to help pay for President Trump’s tax agenda.
The parliamentarian also ruled against provisions to prohibit federal funding of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for adults or kids whose immigration status cannot be immediately verified and to lower federal Medicaid funding for states that provide Medicaid coverage to immigrants in the country illegally….
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Tuberville posted his comments publicly around the same time that Thune told reporters that he would not attempt to overrule the parliamentarian with a simple-majority vote on the floor.
A Senate GOP source familiar with the parliamentarian’s ruling on Medicaid eligibility and health care provider taxes said Republicans will try to rework the provisions to keep them in the massive bill….
UPDATE….
Senate GOP Leaders Don’t Have the Votes
Punchbowl News: “Senate Republican leaders projected confidence during a closed-door meeting Thursday that they can fix their Medicaid provider tax language after the Senate parliamentarian said it didn’t comply with reconciliation rules, according to multiple attendees.”
“The bigger problem, GOP leaders told senators, is that they don’t yet have 50 votes to begin the floor process on their massive tax and spending cut bill.”
“It was an acknowledgment from Senate Republican leadership that fixing the procedural problem won’t fix the political problem with the provider tax crackdown, which several GOP senators believe would cause rural hospitals to shut down. It’s also worth noting that despite the Senate Republican leadership’s confidence in resolving the procedural issue, it could still take a lot of time.”