Democrats are accusing Republicans of trying to gut federal health care programs with their plan to avert a partial government shutdown.
The bill, a rough extension of current federal funding levels called a continuing resolution (CR), is expected to get a House-wide vote on Tuesday. It will need to pass the Senate and be signed by President Donald Trump by the end of Friday, March 14 to avoid federal programs getting shuttered and tens of thousands of employees furloughed.
Trump has called on all Republican lawmakers to support the bill.
Democrats, however, have unleashed a staunch opposition campaign against the legislation. It is a stark departure from political tradition that normally sees liberal lawmakers vote by the dozens to avoid a government shutdown.
Democratic leaders have in particular accused Republicans of trying to harm funds for Medicare and Medicaid with the bill – something the GOP has denied.
‘The partisan House Republican funding bill recklessly cuts healthcare, nutritional assistance and $23 billion in veterans benefits. Equally troublesome, the legislation does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, while exposing the American people to further pain throughout this fiscal year. We are voting No,’ read a joint statement by House Democratic leaders released on Saturday night.
The trio of leaders – House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., and House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif, – sent a letter to lawmakers bashing the CR on Friday, before the text was released.
‘House Democrats would enthusiastically support a bill that protects Social Security, Medicare, veterans health and Medicaid, but Republicans have chosen to put them on the chopping block to pay for billionaire tax cuts,’ they wrote.
‘We cannot back a measure that rips away life-sustaining healthcare and retirement benefits from everyday Americans as part of the Republican scheme to pay for massive tax cuts for their wealthy donors like Elon Musk. Medicaid is our red line.’
A senior House GOP aide accused House Democrats of ‘intentionally misleading the American people.’
‘Their pre-baked statements are disingenuous,’ the senior aide told Fox News Digital. ‘The Democrats came out against the bill before there was even text.’
Trump, for his part, has said multiple times that he does not want Congress touching Medicaid but has left the door open to cutting ‘waste, fraud and abuse,’ a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers.
It is worth noting that yearly congressional appropriations, which are covered by the CR, largely do not touch mandatory government expenditures like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Those programs need to be altered in the federal budget – which Republicans are also working on right now via the reconciliation process.
However, the legislation does not address expected payment cuts coming to doctors who treat Medicare patients, a facet that’s given some interest groups like the American Medical Association (AMA) pause.
‘Physicians across the country are outraged that Congress’s proposed spending package locks in a devastating fifth consecutive year of Medicare cuts, threatening access to care for 66 million Medicare patients,’ AMA Chair Bruce A. Scott said on the group’s website.
It is possible the bill will still get some Democratic votes, likely from lawmakers in competitive districts wary of being blamed for a government shutdown. Republicans will need to shoulder the burden largely themselves, however, in Monday evening’s expected vote to advance the bill through the House Rules Committee.
If it passes, then the bill will have to see a House-wide procedural vote known as a ‘rule vote,’ which generally falls along partisan lines.
The final House vote on the bill is expected sometime Tuesday afternoon.
The 99-page legislation released over the weekend largely keeps government spending flat at fiscal year (FY) 2024 levels until the beginning of FY 2026 on Oct. 1.
The bill allocates an additional $8 billion in defense spending to mitigate national security hawks’ concerns, while non-defense spending that Congress annually appropriates would decrease by about $13 billion.
There are also some added funds to help facilitate Immigrations and Customs Enforcement operations.
Cuts to non-defense discretionary spending would be found by eliminating some ‘side deals’ made during FRA negotiations, House GOP leadership aides said. Lawmakers would also not be given an opportunity to request funding for special pet projects in their districts known as earmarks, another area that Republicans are classifying as savings.
It allows Republican leaders to claim a win on no meaningful government spending increases over FY 2025.