AUCD | Disability Policy News

May 30, 2025 | Vol. MMXXV | Issue 114

Reconciliation

Now that the House of Representatives has passed its version of Republicans’ reconciliation bill, the action moves to the Senate as it prepares to work on its version of the package next week. Both House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) say that they want the reconciliation bill to be sent to President Trump by July 4. Read more about what is in the House’s bill here.

Senate Republicans’ priorities are a little different from House Republicans. For example, some Senators want to make even deeper cuts to the budget than the House bill contains, and some are much more cautious about making Medicaid cuts. Senate process and rules differ a bit from the House as well. For one thing, the Senate’s reconciliation bill has to pass the Byrd rule, which essentially stipulates that the bill only deal with federal spending. The Senate parliamentarian is tasked with reviewing the bill to rule on whether or not it follows the Byrd rule, and if it doesn’t, that provision is typically removed. Read more about Senate reconciliation rules here.

The Senate will not publicly hold markups in committees, the way the House did, but will be conducting closed-door negotiations to prepare their retooled bill. They will likely then hold another vote-a-rama, which is a long process on the Senate floor where Senators consider a bill and can add as many amendments as they want. Once they finish, they need a simple majority to pass their budget resolution.

Key Takeaways

While Congressional processes can be complicated and often confusing, the bottom line remains that Congressional Republicans want to cut into Medicaid and other important programs in order to finance two main things:

An extension of the Trump tax package from his first term—which gave massive tax breaks to billionaires and corporations
Increased immigration enforcement

Congressional Republicans have been saying that even though their bill would implement work requirements for Medicaid, it will not take health care away from people with disabilities and other “deserving” beneficiaries. However, previous models of work requirements (in Georgia and Arkansas) resulted in many people with disabilities and older adults losing health care coverage, despite their eligibility, and did not boost employment. Additionally, decreasing federal funding for Medicaid will leave states with less money to spend on all Medicaid services, putting optional services like home and community-based services in jeopardy.

There are Republican Senators who are not fully sold on the Medicaid cuts and are expressing concern about how they might negatively impact rural communities, people with disabilities, families, hospitals, and more. There are also Republican Senators who have been vocal about how this reconciliation bill would not impact people with disabilities—it is important that they hear from the disability community that they are not correct in that assertion. If the House’s bill passes, states will have to change how they finance their programs and they will reduce benefits.

Because of pushback from people with disabilities, older adults, healthcare providers, and many more advocates, Congressional Republicans are feeling pressure to limit their proposals to cut Medicaid. Folks must continue to let their Members of Congress know how painful, misguided, and cruel any cuts to Medicaid would be.

Read Answers to FAQ on Medicaid and Budget Reconciliation Proposals from the Consortium for Constituents with Disabilities (CCD) and the Disability and Aging Collaborative here.

Read Top 10 Reasons Why House Republicans’ Reconciliation Bill is Bad for Medicaid (and the ACA) from the National Health Law Program here.

Action Item: Outreach and education efforts must now shift to the Senate to educate them on the negative effects of these cuts to Medicaid. Call your Senators and educate them on the importance of Medicaid for people with disabilities and their families and caregivers--you can use AUCD’s Medicaid fact sheet and talking points. Reach your Senators by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121.

Plain Language

Congress is in the middle of a long process of passing bills that affect how the government spends money, which is called reconciliation. The House of Representatives passed their bill. Next, the Senate will need to vote on their bill. Reconciliation is sometimes a long and complicated process. This is because you don’t need as many lawmakers to vote ‘yes.’ It is usually used when lawmakers in one political party (either Democrat or Republican) want to pass bills they know the other political party wouldn’t like very much. They can do this when there is the same political party in charge of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the Presidency. Republicans in the House might have different priorities than Republicans in the Senate, and the Senate has different rules than the House, so some things might change about the bill.

Republicans in both the Senate and House are trying to cut Medicaid and take it away from millions of people and even make it harder for people to get health insurance in other ways. They want to spend less money on Medicaid so that the government can spend more money on immigration police and helping some rich people spend less on their taxes. We do not think this is fair.

Because many people with disabilities, older adults, and advocates are speaking out, Republicans are having a hard time moving this process forward. We can make a difference if we keep speaking out.

Action Item - Right now, people should let their Senators know how important Medicaid is for people with disabilities and their families. You can reach your Members of Congress by calling the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 and talk about how Medicaid helps people get home and community-based services, employment support, and more. If you have a personal story, it is really helpful to share! Here is some more information about Medicaid in plain language.

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