Conservatives huddle with Thune after plan to cut more from Medicaid stalls

A trio of conservatives pushing for an additional $313 billion in federal Medicaid spending cuts marched into Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s (R-S.D.) office late Monday night to hash out the next steps for President Trump’s megabill after it appeared likely that an amendment to slow the growth of Medicaid was headed for defeat.  

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.), the sponsor of the amendment to roll back the expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, was spotted walking into Thune’s office alongside Thune, Senate Republican Whip John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).

Scott, Johnson and Lee held off from supporting a motion to proceed to Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" on Saturday in order to negotiate a commitment from Thune and Vice President Vance to support an amendment to slow the expansion of Medicaid.

Scott has expressed strong confidence that his amendment would pass, but it became evident Monday that it would not muster 50 votes after several GOP senators told The Hill that they would not support it.

Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.), the former governor of West Virginia, said he’s not comfortable cutting more from Medicaid above the $930 billion in projected federal Medicaid spending cuts already included the 940-page Senate bill.

Justice warned that Republicans might lose their Senate and House majorities if they push Medicaid cuts much further.

“It just seems like we’ve taken it as far as I’m comfortable taking it,” he said of Medicaid spending cuts.

“And now we’re taking it to another level,” he said of Scott’s proposal to bar new enrollees into Medicaid in states that expanded the program from getting the generous 90-percent federal match.

“Here’s the thing I’m the most concerned about and that is I am hung up on keeping our majorities,” he said.

“At the end of all this, there is a name or a family, you know. And if you don’t watch out, you’re going to alienate them, and when you alienate them, we’re going to go right back to the minority,” he warned.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) also told The Hill that he would vote against Scott’s amendment.

Hawley said he received a call from Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe (R), who pleaded with him not to support cutting another $313 billion from federal Medicaid spending, which would hit states such as Missouri that expanded Medicaid.

The huddle came more than 13 hours into a vote-a-rama, an unlimited series of amendment votes. The vote series moved glacially for much of the day as GOP leaders awaited key rulings from the Senate parliamentarian and worked to win over holdouts.

Thune walked out of his office about 40 minutes later, telling reporters: "This is a collaborative process, we're collaborating."