Senate GOP eyes major shake-up to Medicaid in their version of Trump's 'One Big Beautiful bill'

Senate Republicans on Monday night revealed their version of President Donald Trump's "One Big, Beautiful bill," which includes larger cuts to Medicaid and phasing out renewable-energy tax cuts enacted under former President Joe Biden.

The legislation, released by the Senate Finance Committee, comes as Congress eyes a July 4 deadline to fund Trump's domestic policy agenda. Major changes will need to be approved by the House, which passed its own version last month. 

Senate Finance Chairman Mike Crapo claimed the legislation would prevent a major tax hike on Americans if passed and would boost the United States economy. 

“This bill prevents an over-$4 trillion tax hike and makes the successful 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent, enabling families and businesses to save and plan for the future,” the chairman said. “It powers the economy by permanently extending critical pro-growth provisions and introduces new incentives for domestic investment, providing certainty for American job creators to spur domestic economic activity and invest in their workers.”

The legislation includes major cuts to Medicaid by trimming two state-level tactics that are used to help fund the program, including capping the Medicaid provider tax at 3.5%, instead of the House’s ban on states raising provider taxes above 6%.

The other change is a cut to state-directed payments to hospitals, according to The Hill, and imposes work requirements on Medicaid beneficiaries with dependent children older than 14. The work requirements could include physical jobs, community service for at least 80 hours a month, or attending school.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.