On Thursday, President Trump gave permission to Senate Republicans to seek out ways to reduce costs. Medicaid As they search for methods to cover his costs frontier control, military protection, and financial focus areas , Axios has learned.
Why it matters: Trump has been emphatic that Medicaid benefits won't be "touched," but he endorsed looking for "waste, fraud and abuse" and even imposing new work requirements.
- On Thursday, Trump along with several key White House officials had a meeting with Republican senators who serve on the Finance Committee. This group includes Senate Majority Leader John Thune from South Dakota and Deputy Minority Whip John Barrasso from Wyoming.
Zoom in: Trump signaled to senators that he is amenable to reducing "waste, fraud, and abuse" in any mandatory spending — which includes programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, according to several senators who attended the meeting and spoke with Axios.
- Social Security cannot be addressed through reconciliation.
- Trump expressed openness to work requirements for Medicaid And talking about methods to slow down the pace at which certain healthcare initiatives expand, potentially resulting in savings of hundreds of billions of dollars.
- He made it evident that he expects Congress to handle the issue of increasing the debt limit within the reconciliation bill and backs permanently enacting his 2017 tax reductions by employing a "current policy" tactic to ensure the expense amounts to zero dollars.
One senator informed Axios that [Trump] aimed to be daring," said the legislator anonymously, aiming for an open conversation.
What they're saying: "The President is determined to ensure that we eradicate waste, fraud, abuse, and as you know, numerous scams are currently taking place regarding Medicaid," Barrasso said to Axios.
- Barrasso stated that money laundering related to Medicaid is taking place, and American taxpayers should not be burdened with this responsibility.
What to watch: The team also explored the concept of implementing DOGE reductions through a substantial reconciliation bill, which could potentially be approved with just a simple majority vote in the Senate—bypassing the need for Democrats to override the filibuster.
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) pitched Elon Musk about the concept last week.
Zoom out: Leaders at the top are still striving to align their perspectives in order to make progress on their primary legislative focus for this year.
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