Latest news with #SenateBill
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Duckworth warns Medicaid cuts will impact 60,000 people in Peoria County
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — The Senate budget bill would kick 60,000 people in Peoria County off Medicaid, Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) said at a Thursday press conference with local health care advocates and Medicaid recipients about the consequences of Medicaid cuts. The Senate's version of the budget bill, released Monday, includes even deeper cuts to Medicaid than the House bill. It imposes stiffer work requirements, while the House version provided some exemptions. 'We are, again, at a tipping point where the health and even the lives of millions of Americans are at risk because President Trump and his heartless Republican cronies. Make no mistake, there's no way to fund Trump's $4 trillion in tax cuts for the billionaire class without putting it on the backs of Americans who are already struggling to pay the bills,' said Duckworth. In the state of Illinois, 3.4 million people depend on Medicaid, including nearly 60,000 people in Peoria County. One of those recipients is Dallas Anne Prentice from Chillicothe, a stay-at-home mom with rare genetic disabilities that prevent her from working. Her prescriptions would cost $2,000 without Medicaid. Right now, she pays $40 a month. She said losing her Medicaid benefits would be a death sentence. 'So the consequences are quite literally, I die. I require my medication and my regular health care to be able to simply function, to get out of bed in the morning. And if I lose my health care, my children lose their mother. I am telling you with all honesty, without Medicaid, I wouldn't be alive today. That's not an exaggeration,' she said. The Senate budget bill also caps Medicaid reimbursements to states, which would then have to pick up the tab. In rural areas like Peoria County, Duckworth said Medicaid covers more than 50% of services. 'So, for states that like Illinois, for example, we were the first state in the country that extended post-natal care for a year. We would have to fund 100% of that, when that was more of a matching with the federal government. And so it's a way to push the costs onto the states, which the states can't fund without saying, oh, we're cutting post-natal care,' said Duckworth. Tracy Warner is, executive director of Illinois Critical Access Hospital Network, which represents 60 small and rural hospitals across the state. She said three in four patients at these hospitals depend on Medicaid or Medicare. 'For these hospitals, Medicaid is not a side issue; it's a lifeline. When Medicaid funding is cut, the impact is immediate and painful. More than 40% of rural hospitals in Illinois are operating at a financial loss. These hospitals are already facing low reimbursement rates, workforce shortages, and rising costs,' she said. Medicaid cuts will push these rural hospitals even further into financial distress, Warner said. Hospitals will be forced to make difficult decisions like cutting services and jobs, which will also impact people who are not on Medicaid. 'That ripple does not stop at hospital doors. When a rural hospital cuts services, local jobs are affected, small businesses lose customers, and patients are forced to travel even longer distances for basic care,' she said. 'So that compounding impact, especially on a rural communities, is very real and very significant to the extent that it will be absolutely devastating not only for health care and health care access, but our economies across the state and across the country as well,' added Duckworth. U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.) sent a statement to WMBD defending Medicaid cuts in response to Duckworth's presser. 'House Republicans are focused on strengthening and investing in Medicaid for those who need it most by ensuring the program continues to provide high-quality patient care for expectant mothers, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly. To protect Medicaid for future generations, we must establish a common-sense approach to address waste, fraud, and abuse. House Republicans have taken a scalpel approach by enacting work requirements for the 4.8 million able-bodied adults without dependents who are choosing not to work and removing 1.4 million illegal immigrants from the program. I remain committed to supporting rural and underserved communities and prioritizing care for our nation's most vulnerable populations.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Conservatives Turn On GOP Senator Over Plan To Sell Off Millions Of Acres Of Public Land
People across the political spectrum hope Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) makes like a tree and leaves national forests — and other federally owned land — alone. Last week, the Lee-led Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee released a draft proposal, intended for inclusion in the so-called 'One Big Beautiful Bill,' that would mandate the sale of between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public land owned by the Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service in the American West. Lee has framed the proposal as a means to increase affordable housing, and emphasized that it excludes national parks, national monuments, and designated wilderness areas from being sold. Critics have expressed skepticism that the bill would do much to mitigate the housing crisis, contending that it would only result in the public being barred from land they now enjoy. 'I don't think it's clear that we would even get substantial housing as a result of this,' Sen. Martin Heinrich (N.M.), the energy committee's ranking Democrat, told the Associated Press. 'What I know would happen is people would lose access to places they know and care about and that drive our Western economies.' Meanwhile, Republican Rep. Ryan Zinke (Mont.) has also spoken out against the plan. 'I have said from day one I would not support a bill that sells public lands,' he wrote Wednesday on X. 'I am still a no on the senate reconciliation bill that sells public lands.' Public backlash really began to grow this week, after The Wilderness Society, a conservation organization, published a map it said showed the areas that could potentially be up for grabs. The proposal only allows for the sale of 3.3 million acres, but it's not clear exactly where that land will come from. The nonprofit identified more than 250 million acres of land it said make up the pool from which the land to be sold could be drawn. The group said it used public data to determine which federal lands would be susceptible to sale, based on the legislation's text as of Monday. Lee called the map 'misleading' and said it included some areas that would be excluded from his bill. Julia Stuble, Wilderness Society Wyoming state director, has defended the map's accuracy, telling Cowboy State Daily that the provision's wording indeed left everything on the group's map open to potential sale. The proposal has drawn condemnation from lawmakers, environmental groups and outdoor enthusiasts of a range of political stripes. Lee drew strong condemnation from many of his fellow conservatives in particular, who have slammed the proposed sell-off as a betrayal of the American people. Lee defended himself in a Saturday episode of Glenn Beck's podcast, blaming the backlash on 'falsehoods being circulated by the left.' The New GOP Platform Has An Alarming Agenda Item Trump's Second-Term Blueprint Would Take A Wrecking Ball To Public Lands JD Vance Made An Eye-Popping Suggestion During The Debate
Straits Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
US Senate passes stablecoin Bill in win for crypto industry, Trump
The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar. PHOTO: REUTERS WASHINGTON - The US Senate passed stablecoin legislation setting up regulatory rules for cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar, in a landmark win for the ascendant crypto industry and President Donald Trump. The 68-30 vote on June 17 evening marked a rare moment of bipartisanship in the deeply divided Senate, despite Republicans blocking Democratic efforts to bar Trump from profiting from his many crypto ventures while in office. A Trump-affiliated stablecoin already has a US$2 billion (S$2.6 billion) market value. The House has been pursuing its own legislation, including a more sweeping measure to regulate the broader crypto market. House lawmakers must now decide whether to take up the Senate Bill or negotiate a compromise measure. The stablecoin vote, years in the making, is the crypto industry's most tangible return yet on the hundreds of millions of dollars it poured into electing a crypto-friendly Congress. Crypto titans who flooded money into the 2024 election with the best-funded alliance of corporate political action committees in US history have similar plans for the 2026 midterm elections. Dollar-pegged stablecoins would have to hold dollar-for-dollar reserves in short-term government debt or similar products overseen by state or federal regulators. Industry backers hope the legislation will turn stablecoins into a mainstream form of payment. Retailers had signed on to the bill with the idea that they can provide a cheaper, faster way to process transactions than traditional banking products like credit cards and checks. Banks, especially smaller ones, have warned about a potential drain on deposits and reduced access to credit. Larger banks are considering issuing their own stablecoins, which generate profits from interest on the reserves. Stablecoins are already a lucrative business, with leading issuer Tether Holdings SA earning billions on its reserves. Technology companies and other large non-financial businesses could also issue their own stablecoins if the Bill becomes law, potentially upending a longstanding separating of finance and business. Various efforts to amend the measure on the Senate floor failed, including amendments targeting Mr Trump, credit card competition, consumer protections and the threat of future government bailouts of stablecoins, which would not be protected by federal deposit insurance. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott, a South Carolina Republican, has told Bloomberg he expects to hold a hearing on a broader crypto market structure Bill in July, but does not anticipate passing it in the Senate until the fall. Backers, including the president and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, have touted dollar-pegged stablecoins for their potential to increase demand for dollars and US debt globally. Several Democrats led by Senator Elizabeth Warren argued that the stablecoin bill doesn't do enough to protect consumers and the financial system if issuers fail, leaving customers vulnerable to losing their money and fueling demands for taxpayer bailouts. They also take a dim view of advancing legislation that would not bar Mr Trump's crypto profiteering. Senator Bill Hagerty, a Tennessee Republican and his party's lead sponsor of the measure, said he'd spoken with Mr Trump and that he was looking forward to getting the legislation on his desk 'in very short order'. The senator added that he hoped the House passes the Bill 'as quickly as they possibly can.' BLOOMBERG Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Senate version of Trump agenda bill cuts more from Medicaid: GOP aides
The Senate's version of a bill to enact President Trump's agenda goes further to reduce Medicaid spending than the House-passed bill does, according to GOP aides familiar with the legislation. GOP aides say it will go further to tighten Medicaid eligibility requirements and to restrict states from using health care provider taxes to draw down more federal Medicaid funding. 'It's still f'd up,' a GOP aide said about the Senate's Medicaid legislation, which does nothing to alleviate the concerns of several Senate Republicans who raised objections to the Medicaid language in the House-passed bill. At least four Republican senators have publicly raised concerns that Medicaid spending cuts passed by the House could hurt their constituents: Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Josh Hawley (Mo.), Jerry Moran (Kan.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). Senate GOP leaders can afford to lose only three votes and still pass the party-line bill. A broad range of GOP senators, including Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Sens. Ron Johnson (Wis.), Mike Lee (Utah) and Rick Scott (Fla.), had called for more deficit reduction in the bill, which is expected to spend roughly $150 billion on border security and immigration enforcement and increase defense spending by another $150 billion. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
4 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
Reporter's Notebook: Why the Senate is unlikely to debate the 'big, beautiful bill' until next week
Fox has learned it is doubtful that Senate Republicans will put the "big, beautiful bill" on the floor for debate and a vote this week. That will likely wait until the week of June 22. This potentially jeopardizes final passage of the measure through the Senate and House by July 4. The Senate Finance Committee is expected to release its text of the bill as early as Monday. That section of the legislation is the most expansive and probably the most controversial. Key tax provisions like SALT (state and local tax reductions), potential spending cuts and changes to Medicare and Medicaid all appear in this section of the legislation. Senators and Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough will then begin the process of weeding out provisions that do not comport with strict Senate Budget provisions. That's why the plan probably isn't ready for debate and a "vote-a-rama" until the week after next. If the Senate advances the bill, the House will have a tight window to either accept the Senate changes and green-light the bill before July 4 – or bounce it back to the Senate with yet another set of changes. Such a scenario would most certainly stretch out the process beyond the July 4 deadline. It would also compel the Senate to take a fourth vote-a-rama in just a matter of months. That's where the Senate votes for hours on end with one roll call after another. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APPKeep in mind that July 4 is merely an aspirational deadline, not a hard one. The true deadline is early August. That's when the Treasury Department says the U.S. will collide with the debt ceiling. A debt ceiling increase is part of the big, beautiful bill.
