Lisa Desjardins:
They do.
There are important developments here in just the last two days. And I want to remind viewers, I warned you I would say this again, this could be the largest, by money, numbers bill in American history. So it’s so important to pay attention right now.
What we’re watching especially is the Senate parliamentarian. She has the ability to rule whether the provisions in this bill meet the budget rules to go through under the process that they’re using. And she has made some important rulings.
I want to talk to you about what’s in and what’s out of this bill. So far, parliamentarian has ruled out of the bill that limit on courts and their ability to enforce injunctions against President Trump. That is out of the bill. Also out of the bill, per her rulings, a sale of vast amounts, millions of acres of federal land.
In addition, out is the initial SNAP — it used to be called food stamps — changes that would have cut over $100 billion from that program, but today, in the bill, a different version of that. And this is what’s important to remember is, Republicans, as they’re getting these rulings day by day, are trying to come up with different versions of these provisions that can pass muster with the parliamentarian.
We are waiting tonight to find out about some of the biggest, which is Medicaid. There is a provider tax change in that. That’s a lot of kind of Washington gobbledygook. But it’s a way that states can use money, fund money to get more federal dollars on Medicaid. Republicans see it as a scam. We’re waiting to see how the parliamentarian sees it.
