MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
The speaker of the House is starting his day on a win.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Republicans narrowly gained approval of their budget blueprint, which makes room for renewing President Trump's tax cuts as well as his border security policies. This plan also includes trillions of dollars in federal borrowing to finance those tax cuts and other things. Fiscal conservatives resisted that part but got a promise from party leaders to deliver spending cuts later. Speaker Mike Johnson says the real work begins now.
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MIKE JOHNSON: That was a big step because that will allow us now to move forward to have our committees actually drafting the one big, beautiful bill.
MARTIN: NPR congressional correspondent Deirdre Walsh is with us now. Good morning, Deirdre.
DEIRDRE WALSH, BYLINE: Good morning, Michel.
MARTIN: So as I understand it, House Speaker Mike Johnson didn't have the votes on Wednesday but got it through yesterday. So what happened? How did he manage it?
WALSH: Well, he and Senate Majority Leader John Thune met separately with a group of about 20 conservatives who were adamant that the budget package had to include a minimum amount of spending cuts. They're talking $1.5 trillion. There's a range in this resolution, but these hard-liners weren't convinced the Senate would actually meet the higher number, and now they say they are.
MARTIN: So what's in this blueprint?
WALSH: It's really a big package that wraps the president's legislative agenda into one set of instructions for committees to follow. The resolution says the House and Senate agrees on these goals. Now they have to work out all the details. They've agreed they want more money for border security, domestic energy production. But most importantly, this budget extends the president's tax cuts. Those are going to expire at the end of 2025. That extension of those tax breaks is going to cost around $5.5 trillion over 10 years.
Republicans are also planning to use this budget package to avoid a default on the nation's debt. They're going to raise the debt ceiling by about $5 trillion. By doing it in this budget package, they don't have to negotiate any concessions with Democrats. They're using a process to get around a Democratic filibuster. Democrats have been blasting this package. They're saying it's going to add trillions to the deficit. Some were calling it yesterday a heist, with tax breaks for the wealthy as programs for the working class are expected to be slashed.
MARTIN: So about this $1.5 trillion in cuts, there's already discussion about a big chunk of those cuts coming from Medicaid, which is the health care program for low-income people, elderly people and disabled people. Is that still the plan?
WALSH: There is no doubt Medicaid is going to be a big source of savings in this budget. You cannot cut $1.5 trillion from the federal budget without getting some from the biggest side of the federal ledger. That's mandatory spending on programs like Medicaid. The process Republicans are using walls off any changes to Social Security. After the vote, the speaker was careful to say Medicaid beneficiaries aren't going to lose their coverage. He's arguing there's over 50 billion in waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program and other programs. The speaker emphasized they're going to make changes to Medicaid to add work requirements.
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JOHNSON: No one has talked about cutting one benefit in Medicaid to anyone who's duly owed. What we've talked about is returning work requirements so, for example, you don't have able-bodied young men on a program that's designed for single mothers and the elderly and disabled.
MARTIN: OK. So Republican leaders say they want to get the legislation with all the details to the president's desk by Memorial Day. Is that timeline doable?
WALSH: This is going to be a huge lift for Republicans. And as you know, they have that really skinny majority in the House. Lawmakers in swing districts are really concerned about Medicaid, and conservatives want more than $1.5 trillion in cuts. They want closer to 2 trillion. But even some Republicans, like Missouri Republican Josh Hawley, are warning they're not going to vote for Medicaid cuts. And many working-class Trump voters rely on these programs, and they would be the ones hurt.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Deirdre Walsh. Deirdre, thank you.
WALSH: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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