The healthcare reform law will not be included in the $39 billion in federal spending cuts negotiated in the budget deal, announced two hours before the federal government would have shut down, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.
Medicare and Medicaid were not mentioned in reports on the cuts. However, the deal doesn't mean the struggles over the budget are over. For example, some Republicans plan to vote against raising the federal debt ceiling unless it is part of a plan to reduce deficits. House Republicans also recently released budget plan for next year, which calls for defunding of healthcare reform as well as basic changes in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Although Democrats were forced to make cuts they initially opposed, President Obama said the deal would protect party priorities like federal spending on education, environmental programs and the reform law. As part of the deal, the Democratic leadership in the Senate promised to schedule a vote this week on the House bill to defund the reform law, according to The Hill. But Republicans would need to get supporters from the Democrat majority to pass their bill in the Senate.
Conservative Republicans appeared to support the budget comprise. "I think it will be fairly widely supported,'' said Rep. Tom Price, MD (R.-Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon and former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus of House Republicans.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on federal spending.
Read the Hill report on the reform law.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/155015-lawmaker-a-deal-has-been-reached
Read more coverage of the possible shutdown of the federal government:
- Federal Shutdown Wouldn't Halt Reform Implementation
- Short Federal Shutdown Wouldn't Harm Medicare, Medicaid Payment
- Federal Shutdown Likely Saturday Due to Budget Impasse
Medicare and Medicaid were not mentioned in reports on the cuts. However, the deal doesn't mean the struggles over the budget are over. For example, some Republicans plan to vote against raising the federal debt ceiling unless it is part of a plan to reduce deficits. House Republicans also recently released budget plan for next year, which calls for defunding of healthcare reform as well as basic changes in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
Although Democrats were forced to make cuts they initially opposed, President Obama said the deal would protect party priorities like federal spending on education, environmental programs and the reform law. As part of the deal, the Democratic leadership in the Senate promised to schedule a vote this week on the House bill to defund the reform law, according to The Hill. But Republicans would need to get supporters from the Democrat majority to pass their bill in the Senate.
Conservative Republicans appeared to support the budget comprise. "I think it will be fairly widely supported,'' said Rep. Tom Price, MD (R.-Ga.), an orthopedic surgeon and former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative caucus of House Republicans.
Read the Wall Street Journal report on federal spending.
Read the Hill report on the reform law.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/155015-lawmaker-a-deal-has-been-reached
Read more coverage of the possible shutdown of the federal government:
- Federal Shutdown Wouldn't Halt Reform Implementation
- Short Federal Shutdown Wouldn't Harm Medicare, Medicaid Payment
- Federal Shutdown Likely Saturday Due to Budget Impasse