September 9, 2025
Mr. Whitehouse submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Finance
Urging the protection of Medicare from the devastating cuts caused by H.R. 1.
Whereas the Congressional Budget Office (referred to in this preamble as CBO) has estimated that the Act entitled An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14
, approved July 4, 2025 (Public Law 119–21; 139 Stat. 72) (commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and referred to in this preamble as H.R. 1) will add $4,100,000,000,000 to the deficit between 2025 and 2034;
Whereas such an increase to the deficit will automatically trigger across-the-board spending cuts, called sequestration
, under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010 (42 U.S.C. 931 et seq.) (referred to in this preamble as S-PAYGO);
Whereas sequestration will impose indiscriminate, across-the-board spending cuts to social safety net programs that millions of families in the United States rely on;
Whereas the Medicare program established under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.), a critical lifeline for the people of the United States, is not exempt from sequestration under S-PAYGO;
Whereas CBO has estimated that $45,000,000,000 will be cut from Medicare by sequestration in 2026 alone;
Whereas CBO has estimated that a total of $536,000,000,000 will be cut from Medicare by sequestration through 2034;
Whereas these Medicare sequestration cuts compound nearly $1,000,000,000,000 in health care reductions under H.R. 1, stripping coverage from 15,000,000 people of the Untied States and further undermining the financial stability of health care providers;
Whereas, more than 67,000,000 people of the United States relied on Medicare for their health care coverage in 2024;
Whereas cuts of this magnitude will jeopardize the financial stability of community health centers, hospitals, providers, and many others who rely on Medicare payments to serve seniors, people with disabilities, and those with end-stage renal disease;
Whereas Republicans’ partisan bill expanded the national debt by $4,100,000,000,000, and the Republicans chose not to protect the people of the United States from these cuts; and
Whereas the people of the United States have paid into Medicare throughout their working lives with the expectation that their earned benefits will be protected: Now, therefore, be it
That—
(1)
the Senate should protect the Medicare program established under title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) from devastating cuts caused by the Act entitled An Act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to title II of H. Con. Res. 14
, approved July 4, 2025 (Public Law 119–21; 139 Stat. 72) (commonly known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act and referred to in this resolution as H.R. 1);
(2)
the Senate should safeguard seniors’ Medicare benefits and essential social services that are jeopardized by the cuts triggered by H.R. 1; and
(3)
seniors who have paid into Medicare throughout their working lives should be protected from reckless, across-the-board cuts to their health care.