Washington – The Senate Republicans managed to debate their massive budget plan on Thursday evening, but not in front of an unexpected delay caused by some of their own concerns about their tax reductions and potential reductions in Medicaid.
The delay occurred while these Republicans met the head of the majority of the Senate John Thune, Rs.d., to talk about their concerns.
Some centrist senators are concerned about a budgetary change that the party uses to slap a zero dollar price on the extension of President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, who are estimated by the official congress goalkeeper to cost $ 4.6 billions of dollars over a decade.
Republicans delay a calculation on the issue after having bypassing the Senate parliamentarian on the question of whether they can use the “current policy” of reference to treat the extension of Trump’s tax reductions in 2017, which should expire this year, as not costing anything. But that means that this decision could be challenged later, and it could potentially explode the bill if the parliamentarian reigns against him – unless the Senate votes to reject it, which some compared to the 60 vote filibuster rule.
A handful of Republicans have concerns that they are asked to do so later in the process.
“I’m just going to speak for myself and say that I would never vote to overthrow the parliamentarian,” said NBC News Susan Collins, R-Maine, one of the senators who met Thune.
And Thune insists that the Republicans of the Senate only follow the law, because he expects to plow the debate, the amendments and approve the resolution this weekend. It would just be the start of the process.
“We would not have advanced if we did not think that we clearly followed the law, the budget law,” said Thune. “We have a long way to go. But you know, the model we have selected to continue, we think of checking all the boxes. ”
Thune said that he “heard people and obviously gave them a chance to one, explains their concerns and, hopefully, receive questions, and simply make sure everyone had a level of comfort with you, which proceeds”.
The president of the Senate Budget Committee, Lindsey Graham, RS.C., insists that he has the only power to decide whether the extension of Trump’s tax reductions should be noted as a cost of money and that the parliamentarian does not have his say.
“It’s not his decision, it’s mine,” he said.
Graham said that as long as there are 51 Senate votes to use this budgeting method, that’s all that matters. And if not? “Then, this approach would fail. And I would hate that the party suffers because I think that current politics is a good policy for the economy. I think that is what President Trump wants, what I want,” he said in an interview.
He did not say what would happen if the Democrats ask the parliamentarian of opinion and that she governs against the approach of the GOP, only saying that he doubtss This will happen this way.
Another senator, Josh Hawley, R -MO., Said he had “a great concern” about the Medicaid bill – and had taken his concerns directly to Trump on Thursday evening before the vote.
“I said that there was this language in the bill. And he said:” I want to be limited to this subject: the Chamber will in no case reduce Medicaid benefits, the Senate will in no case reduce the advantages of Medicaid, and I will not sign a reduction in the advantages of Medicaid. “So it’s good and I hope that our leadership will take this signal,” Hawley told journalists before the vote.
Twenty -one percent of my state receives Medicaid – Chip or Medicaid. So I said that I will not vote for the Medicaid cuts. And I thought that the president’s insurance was completely unequivocal, “added Hawley, saying that insurance had made him comfortable to start the process.
It’s easier to say than to do. The budget approved at home, which Trump has approved, makes Republicans mathematically impossible to achieve their goals without cutting Medicare or Medicaid. Legislators say they want to reduce waste and fraud, as well as to impose a potential work requirement for Medicaid. Beyond that, they did not identify any means of reducing expenses.
Overall, GOP leaders say they want to find billions of dollars in spending discounts to balance the other side of the big book after their tax reductions, as well as expenditure increases in application of immigration and the military.
Buy that they continue to lack consensus on what to cut.
Other Republicans remain optimistic about what they will resolve.
Senator Mike Rounds, Rs.d., who did not attend the meeting on Thursday evening, said that leadership “did not twist”, but “some people wanted to make sure they understood how the process worked. They sat with a number of people who knew it very well.
