Republicans pass budget bill amendment aimed at protecting Medicaid, Medicare

Senate Republicans on Friday backed an amendment to their budget resolution aimed at protecting Medicare and Medicaid. 

The amendment, which passed 51-48 and was proposed by Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska.), was the first brought forward as part of the vote-a-rama ahead of a final vote on the bill that will serve as a blueprint for President Trump's domestic agenda, including extending his tax cuts.

The Sullivan amendment calls for actions related to Medicaid, specifically, that "may include strengthening and improving" the program "for the most vulnerable populations."

Republicans have been accused of trying to use the budget resolution to gut entitlement programs, headlined by Medicaid, in order to fund the tax cut push and to potentially make them permanent.

The resolution instructs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce the deficit by $880 billion, a target experts say can’t be met without slashing Medicaid.

Some Republicans have maintained that any cuts to the programs would be in the name of rooting out "waste, fraud and abuse," rather than touching benefits themselves.

But moderate Republicans and those from states where a lot of constituents rely on Medicaid have been nervous.

Every Senate Republican save for two voted for the amendment. Sens. John Curtis (R-Utah) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) opposed it. 

The amendment was the first in a marathon series of votes called a vote-a-rama, which is expected to last into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

While the Medicaid amendment was put forward by Republicans, the bulk of the proposals are expected to be from Democrats who want to put their GOP counterparts on the record on a series of difficult issues.