25 Mar 2025 12:18 pm
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https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congre ... rcna197047
Republicans control a narrow House majority of 218-213 and a Senate majority of 53-47. They are using the budget "reconciliation" process, which allows them to bypass a 60-vote threshold in the Senate and remove Democrats from the equation."Now, our focus returns to delivering President Trump’s full America First agenda," Johnson said in a joint statement Monday with House Republican leaders and committee chairs. "The House is determined to send the president one big, beautiful bill that secures our border, keeps taxes low for families and job creators, grows our economy, restores American energy dominance, brings back peace through strength, and makes government more efficient and more accountable to the American people."Here are four hurdles they face.Medicaid cutsRepublicans say they want to find trillions of dollars in spending cuts to pay for at least some of the bill. The budget resolution the House adopted last month requires the Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in deficit reduction. And that's where things get tricky.The Congressional Budget Office, the official nonpartisan scorekeeper, found that the panel oversees a total of $581 billion in funds if Medicare and Medicaid are excluded.In other words, it's mathematically impossible for Republicans to meet their own budget targets without cutting Medicare or Medicaid. GOP leaders and rank-and-file members have said some Medicaid cuts are on the table, and Johnson frames it as an effort to cut waste and fraud in the program.