Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have started holding meetings to discuss where to find savings within their panel’s purview to finance legislation to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.
Members of the committee held its first meeting on Tuesday, with more planned throughout the week, on “everything” within Energy and Commerce’s jurisdiction, according to one member granted anonymity to discuss the scheduled closed-door gatherings.
It shows how eager House Republicans are to lay the groundwork for what their party-line bill could look like under the contours of the reconciliation process, even though they still need to resolve major differences between the budget resolution they adopted last week and the Senate’s product.
Energy and Commerce, led by Chair Brett Guthrie, is weighing how to cobble together $880 billion in savings to offset the cost of a reconciliation bill encompassing tax cuts, beefed up border security, defense programs and energy policy. The Kentucky Republican has said clawing back clean energy tax credits, repealing electric vehicle incentives and reevaluating Biden administration broadband programs are among possible line items on the chopping block.
The biggest cost saver the committee has to work with, however, will come from Medicaid. Those changes could include making work requirements a condition of participation in the program; repealing Biden-era Medicaid rules; and examining the taxes states levy on doctors and hospitals to help pay for their share of Medicaid costs.
Speaker Mike Johnson last week ruled out some of the steepest potential cuts to the program, reiterating that Republicans want to target waste, fraud and abuse rather than eliminating services to many of the 70 million Americans who are currently Medicaid recipients. It’s not clear, however, if Republicans will be able to reach their lofty savings goal without directly impacting benefits, which could be a major issue for vulnerable incumbents in the conference.
The House Ways and Means Committee plans to hold similar meetings next week to begin drafting its portion the reconciliation bill.
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