WASHINGTON — Advocates are pushing to squeeze Medicaid expansion and home health funding into a potential budget reconciliation bill after Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., renewed negotiations with moderate West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin III.
With Democrats poised to lose control of the House in the midterm elections, the bill could be the party’s last chance for a while to reach millions of low-income and disabled Americans. But the two items have slipped on Democrats’ lengthy list of priorities, which currently includes lowering drug prices, addressing climate change and overhauling taxes.
Schumer has already submitted a drug pricing agreement to the Senate parliamentarian, the chamber’s referee who decides whether the legislative text meets the requirements of budget reconciliation — which allows a bill to pass with a simple majority vote. That portion of the bill is expected to reduce deficits by $287.6 billion over 10 years.
