Health Law Daily Wrap Up, SENATE NEWS—Medicaid cuts still on the table in Senate-passed budget resolution, (Apr 7, 2025)

By Sheila Lynch-Afryl, J.D., M.A.

The Senate budget resolution calls for the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion in spending over 10 years.

The U.S. Senate passed a fiscal year 2025 budget resolution on April 5 that requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce spending by $880 billion over 10 years. The Congressional Budget Office concluded last month, after the House passed its budget blueprint, that Medicaid reductions would be required to meet the goals of the blueprint. H. Con. Res. 14, which makes tax cuts passed during President Donald Trump’s first administration permanent, passed the Senate 51 to 48, with Republican Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky) and Susan Collins (R-Me) joining Democrats in voting against it.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore) proposed an amendment that would delete the language requiring the Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending by $880 billion, but it failed by a vote of 49 to 50. Three Republican senators—Collins, Josh Hawley (R-Mo), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)—voted in favor of the amendment. Wyden argued, “There is no way to cover that cost without taking a wrecking ball to the Medicaid program, and that’s their plan.”

However, other provisions in the resolution purport to protect Medicaid. Section 3003 provides that allocations may be revised to “fulfill the President’s promise to protect” Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, “including from waste, fraud, and abuse.” Similarly, under section 3005, allocations can be revised to protect the Medicaid program, “which may include strengthening and improving Medicaid for the most vulnerable populations, and extending the life of the Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund.”

On February 25 the House passed its budget blueprint 217 to 215. After Democratic members of Congress and trade groups opposed the $880 billion in proposed cuts, Trump stated that the “Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits” and will instead focus on fraud, waste, and abuse.

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