Posted on Monday, December 16, 2019 1:32 PM
NAHC has joined other like-minded groups in asking the Senate to reject the Bipartisan Budget Reform Act legislation that could lead to severe cuts to health care programs that are vitally important to many Americans. The bill, S. 2765, sponsored by Senators Enzi (R-WY) and Whitehouse (D-RI), includes provisions that would create a new budget conciliation process that, when triggered, would result in spending cuts far greater than the deficit reductions required by the failed “super committee” of the 2011 Budget Control Act.
“The bill restructures the budget process by requiring a budget resolution at the beginning of each Congress, and states that if the CBO finds after the first year of the resolution the projected debt-to-GDP is higher than was originally included in the budget, Congress could pass immediate austerity measures under a budget reconciliation bill. If this provision had been in effect, every budget resolution since 2016 would have triggered the reconciliation process, allowing the senate to make several trillion dollars in spending cuts or tax increases in order to meet CBO’s projection.”
The bill uses reconciliation to ensure debt-reduction legislation would pass quickly, ensuring that it will be a partisan process, and making egregious cuts in mandatory programs – such as Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Medicare, Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), and Supplemental Security Income – highly likely. These cuts would have a devastating impact on millions who rely on these programs each year.
Cuts triggered by this bill would likely make recessions deeper and more frequent. Downturns in the economy would cause CBO’s projected debt-to-GDP ratio to exceed the budget resolution figure, triggering deep cuts to critical health care programs.
NAHC is urging members of Congress to oppose this bill and to not ever let it come to a vote.
Source: NAHC Report
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