'It shocks the conscience': Senate Republicans dump gas on 'five-alarm fire'

[justaprogressive]

Senate Republicans on Monday proposed cutting Medicaid even more aggressively than their House colleagues to help offset the cost of trillions of dollars in tax breaks that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.

The legislative text unveiled by the GOP-controlled Senate Finance Committee is a central component of the sprawling reconciliation package that Republicans are hoping to send to President Donald Trump's desk by next month.

The bill contains broader Medicaid work requirements than the House-passed legislation, expanding the ineffective and punitive mandates to low-income adults with children over the age of 14.

The Senate version would also sharply limit provider taxes that states use to fund their Medicaid programs. Edwin Park, a research professor at Georgetown University's Center for Children and Families, warned the provision would "devastate" state finances, particularly where lawmakers have expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

"This will create huge budget holes over time, some in as little as two years, forcing states to make severe, highly damaging cuts," Park wrote in an analysis of the new legislation.

https://www.alternet.org/senate-budget-vote/

[Aristus]

1. It won't be too long before the U.S. starts to look like Dickensian London.