Democrats May Raid Medicare To Fund ‘Stimulus’ For The Wealthy
February 2, 2021 By Christopher Jacobs
On Monday, congressional Democrats introduced a budget resolution calling for an approximately $1.9 trillion budget reconciliation measure, in a move that deviates from President Biden’s efforts at achieving bipartisanship on increased COVID spending. It also could have significant knock-on effects, as current law and Senate procedure mean that a Democrat-only reconciliation bill could reduce Medicare spending to fund subsidies for the affluent.
The effects come from statutory pay-as-you-go (or PAYGO) intended to ensure that Congress offsets tax reductions or spending increases. Last year, Congress declared several COVID-19 bills as “emergency†spending, exempting them from PAYGO requirements.
But Senate procedures mean that Democrats likely cannot add a PAYGO exemption to a COVID-19 bill considered via budget reconciliation. The 2017 Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act faced a similar dilemma, an offshoot of passing the bill through reconciliation, rather than normal procedures requiring 60 Senate votes.
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https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/02/democrats-may-raid-medicare-to-fund-stimulus-for-the-wealthy/
