Senate panel navigates delicate compromises on Medicaid, taxes in latest chunk of Trump’s megabill

A Senate panel charged with some of the most hot-button portions of President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ unveiled its portion of the gargantuan package on Monday.

The Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over tax policy, Medicaid and a slew of other items baked into the House GOP’s version of the bill, released its text as Republicans sprint to finish work on the president’s bill ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

The committee, chaired by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, had to walk a perilous tightrope with their legislation, given the push and pull surrounding divisive cuts to Medicaid, an increase to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap and other provisions in the House’s version of the bill.

Crapo lauded the bill in a statement, and noted that it made the president’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent, slashed ‘Green New Deal’ spending and targeted ‘waste, fraud and abuse in spending programs while preserving and protecting them for the most vulnerable.’ 

‘I look forward to continued coordination with our colleagues in the House and the Administration to deliver President Trump’s bold economic agenda for the American people as quickly as possible,’ he said. 

While House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., pleaded with Senate leaders to change the bill as little as possible after narrowly passing the bill in the House, particularly on the compromises he reached on SALT and Medicaid, the Senate has vowed to leave its imprint on the package. 

Crapo and Republican committee members have similarly had to navigate divisions in the upper chamber, particularly around Medicaid tweaks to provider payments and an increase to the SALT cap to $40,000 — a change needed to ram the bill through the House, but one Senate Republicans dislike.