EXCLUSIVE: Senate Republicans Lay Out Priorities For Spending Bill, Slam Democrat Attacks

Senate Republicans unveiled their plan to secure the border, unleash domestic energy, and make President Donald Trump’s tax cuts permanent, hitting back against Democrats’ backlash to Republican efforts to stop funding entitlement programs for illegal aliens. 

A website launched on Wednesday outlines Senate Republican priorities for the bill while addressing panicked claims from Democrats about Republican plans for Medicaid. The page also allows visitors to check how much additional taxes they will have to pay if the 2017 Trump tax cuts are allowed to expire. For example, the expiration of the cuts would cost the average Floridian around $3,650. 

“Every single Senate Democrat supports the biggest tax hike in history, illegal aliens on Medicaid rioting in the streets, and more inflation— and we will make sure everyone knows it,” Senator Tom Cotton told The Daily Wire. “Americans support our plan for Safety and Prosperity because it does the opposite: keeps taxes low, reduces spending, and protects Medicaid for those who need it.”

Senate Republican priorities include funding Trump’s executive orders, securing the border, funding a border wall, and allocating funds to hire more ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents, as well as funding Trump’s Golden Dome missile defense project and building more Navy ships and drones. 

Senate Republican Conference website.

They also want to make the Trump tax cuts permanent, which they say will help Americans avoid a $4 trillion tax hike; make the small business tax deduction permanent; and increase oil and gas lease sales.

Senate Republican Conference.

Some Senate Democrats, like Brian Schatz (HI) and Martin Heinrich (NM), have claimed that millions of people will be kicked off Medicare if the Republican proposal passes. Senate Republicans say they are only looking to cut fraud and waste, and ensure that illegal aliens aren’t benefiting from entitlement programs. 

The House has already passed its reconciliation bill, including reforms to entitlement programs. For Medicaid, these reforms include making illegal aliens ineligible and imposing basic work requirements for able-bodied Americans. 

Some Republicans are also pushing to end the funding of transgender procedures for both kids and adults in the bill. Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) introduced a bill last month ending funding for transgender procedures he said he hoped to get into the reconciliation bill, while Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) and James Lankford (R-OK) introduced a similar bill on Tuesday.