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Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, critical programs for Americans from all walks of life are under threat right now: Medicare and Medicaid. The Trump administration and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are working to pass partisan legislation that would make massive cuts to Medicaid. Indeed, the House of Representatives passed their bill last night, voting for the largest cut ever to healthcare for working- class Americans by a single vote. That is why I am introducing the Protect Medicare and Medicaid Act of 2025 with my colleagues Senators Heinrich and Markey.

Under the budget reconciliation process, Republicans can ram through massive cuts to Medicaid or Medicare by a simple majority in the U.S. Senate. It shouldn't be possible to use this fast-track process to strip away the healthcare coverage of millions of Americans. Regrettably, that is what Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are doing.

Senators who served before me had the wisdom to say that this process is too partisan to touch a program like Social Security, which serves as a lifeline for retirees and has worked to reduce poverty among the elderly, and therefore exempted Social Security from the budget reconciliation process.

The bill I am introducing today is very simple. It would exempt Medicare and Medicaid from budget reconciliation, alongside Social Security. These programs are too important to fall victim to partisan attacks. Medicare and Medicaid combined provide health insurance to well over 100 million Americans, providing nursing home care to seniors and those with disabilities, health insurance for children and pregnant women, and countless others. Without these programs, millions of Americans would lose insurance, go bankrupt, or both. One party should not be able to unilaterally dismantle these programs. This bill would prevent that from happening. I hope my colleagues will join me in supporting this effort to protect the healthcare coverage of tens of millions of our fellow Americans. ______

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