Unresolved issues over potential cuts to Medicaid have forced House Republicans to delay the Energy and Commerce Committee’s key vote on its portion of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful” reconciliation bill another week.
The panel initially planned its markup – where it debates legislation and votes on advancing the package – on May 7. But on Thursday, the panel informed members it is now looking at the week of May 12, a committee source told The Hill. Instead, the committee will hold member meetings Tuesday and Wednesday.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and other members of the House GOP leadership team discussed Medicaid proposals and other major pieces of the GOP’s domestic policy package with Trump on Thursday at the White House, Politico reported. The White House also presented Johnson’s team with a list of items they want in the bill.
“The Chairman had a very productive conversation with President Trump at the White House today,” committee staff told members, according to The Hill’s source. “In order to follow up on a few requests we are not marking up next week. Please hold the week of May 12th for our reconciliation markup, with committee meetings beginning prior to votes on Tuesday.”
One of the key issues is how far Republicans will go to implement a proposal to cap federal Medicaid payments to states as leaders try to work through estimates about savings, Politico reported, citing two people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The budget resolution, which offers guidelines for crafting the final reconciliation bill, directs the Energy and Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in cuts, The Hill reported. But some believe that figure cannot be reached without changes to Medicaid, to which centrists are adamantly opposed. Hard-line conservatives, however, are pushing for cuts because they want the package to be deficit-neutral, a detail some have dubbed a red line. Neither side of the debate appears ready to concede.
“We have very clearly articulated our position on protecting Medicaid for eligible recipients,” Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told reporters Thursday, according to The Hill. “Leadership is well aware of that.”
GOP leaders are also conceding chances that the House Ways and Means Committee’s markup of the tax portion of the reconciliation bill will be held next week, according to Politico. They are now pushing it to the following week as well, as negotiations continue on issues under that panel’s purview.
“One of the things that’s very important will be saving Medicaid for Americans in need,” Trump said Thursday after his meeting with lawmakers, Politico reported. “We will not let the Democrats destroy it and all the waste, fraud and abuse they seem to love, and they will decimate Medicaid if they get the chance; we’re not going to give them the chance.”
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