Sen. Lesser Responds to Senate Ruling Protecting Medicaid

HARTFORD – Today, State Senator Matt Lesser, Senate Chair of the Human Services Committee, issued a statement in response to the Senate parliamentarian disqualifying significant provisions of Donald Trump’s budget bill.

Senate Republicans in Washington hope to pass Donald Trump’s budget bill through the process of reconciliation, which would require just 50 votes, instead of 60. Reconciliation and its lower vote threshold applies only to budget-related bills.

The Senate parliamentarian enforced the “Byrd Rule” and ruled that several provisions of the budget bill centered on policy, not budget, and would require 60 votes to pass.

Some of the provisions disqualified by the Parliamentarian include:

-Immigrant Medicaid eligibility

-Prohibiting states from increasing the provider tax on hospitals

-Expansion of FMAP for certain states providing payments for health care furnished to certain individuals

-Prohibiting Medicaid and CHIP funding for gender affirming care

-Read more here

“Donald Trump and MAGA Republicans think the rules don’t apply to them, and this ruling is a huge win for Medicaid recipients, state economies, and Americans at large,” said Sen. Lesser. “The attacks on Medicaid are not only heartless, but they are an unfunded mandate on states across this country that would increase costs for low and middle-earners to give tax breaks to the 1%. This ruling stops MAGA Republicans from shifting billions of dollars in costs onto Connecticut taxpayers and health care providers, but there is still much more to be concerned about. We must stay vigilant and I await MAGA Republicans’ next plans to steal from the poor to give to the rich.”