Feb 21, 2025
By Jennifer Shutt and Ariana Figueroa – States Newsroom D.C. Bureau
WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. senators pulled an all-nighter Thursday into Friday, debating dozens of amendments to the chamber’s budget resolution that ranged from access to Medicare and Medicaid to whether Congress should approve tax cuts for the ultrawealthy.
The vote-a-rama process is an essential, if not somewhat loathed, part of Senate debate on its budget resolution that remains unique to that chamber of Congress. House members don’t seem at all interested in replicating the endeavor for themselves.
Amendments added to the budget have lots of messaging in them but won’t become law, since the tax and spending blueprint isn’t a bill and doesn’t go to the president for his signature.
But senators voting 52-48 to approve the budget resolution was an essential part of Republicans’ plan to use the budget reconciliation process to move through partisan legislation later this year to enact core parts of their agenda. Kentucky’s Sen. Rand Paul was the only Republican to vote against adopting the budget resolution.
Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said that the process “will allow the Republican Party to meet President (Donald) Trump’s immigration agenda.”
So senators gathered on the floor late Thursday and remained there through just before sunrise Friday, debating 25 amendments.
Here is a roundup of some of those proposals:
Sullivan, Lee amendments succeed
Senators ultimately voted to adopt just two amendments — one from Alaska Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and one from Utah Republican Sen. Mike Lee.
Sullivan’s amendment would address what changes Congress could make to Medicare and Medicaid in subsequent bills. He said during debate the amendment directed lawmakers to “strengthen and improve Medicaid for the most vulnerable populations and strengthen Medicare so that it’s available for years to come.”
Medicaid is the nation’s state-federal health program for lower-income Americans, while Medicare is the federal health insurance program for people over 65 and certain individuals with disabilities.
Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden spoke out against Sullivan’s amendment, saying the phrase about the “most vulnerable” was “code for kicking Americans with Medicaid coverage off their health insurance if they’re not sick enough, not poor enough, or not disabled enough.”
The Senate voted 51-49 to approve Sullivan’s amendment with both of Utah’s GOP senators, John Curtis and Lee, voting against.
Lee’s amendment, which was approved on a 53-47 party-line vote, would give Congress additional options to address regulations proposed by federal departments and agencies.
Michigan Democratic Sen. Gary Peters spoke out against the proposal, saying he was “concerned that this amendment sets up a complex and arguably unconstitutional legislative scheme to get rid of regulations and undermine the bicameral legislative process.”
Hawley sides with Democrats, six times
A few Republicans crossed the aisle on a handful of votes, with Missouri’s Sen. Josh Hawley voting six times with Democrats, two of the votes on budget points of order.
The amendments Hawley supported would have limited private equity companies from purchasing single-family homes; prevented price gouging of prescription drugs; and supported a law that expanded benefits and health care for veterans exposed to toxic chemicals, known as the PACT Act.
Hawley and Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins voted with Democrats to waive a budget point of order raised by one of their Republican colleagues, but were unsuccessful following a 49-51 vote. The procedural maneuver blocked the Senate from directly voting on an amendment from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., barring tax cuts to high-income earners if Medicaid funding is cut.
Hawley and Collins supported setting aside a budget point of order raised against an amendment from Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Jack Reed that would have barred legislation reducing Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The Senate declined to waive the budget point of order on a 49-51 vote.
Hawley also supported an amendment from Georgia’s Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff to protect access to maternal and pediatric care through Medicaid.
None of the amendments were agreed to, even with Hawley’s support.
IVF, bird flu, health care
Senators debated numerous amendments throughout the night addressing health care, including in vitro fertilization and the ongoing response to bird flu, though none of the proposals were adopted.
Senators rejected an amendment from Illinois Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth that would have instituted nationwide protections for IVF, following a 49-51 vote. Maine’s Collins and Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski were the only two Republicans to vote for the amendment.
“This amendment would protect the right to IVF and other fertility care, and require insurers to cover IVF,” Duckworth said.
Alabama Republican Sen. Katie Britt urged lawmakers to vote against the proposal, saying it was a “Trojan horse” that was “far more expansive than they would want you to believe.”
Michigan Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin proposed an amendment to prevent funding cuts or staff reductions related to the federal government’s response to highly pathogenic avian influenza, also known as bird flu or H5N1.
“This should be an easy no-brainer,” Slotkin said. “Avian flu is jumping between species, we’re culling thousands of birds, and egg prices are the highest they’ve ever been in U.S. history.”
Arkansas Republican Sen. John Boozman, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, opposed her amendment and it was rejected on a 47-53 vote.
Add comment