Biden’s Virus Relief Plan Threatens to Trigger Medicare Cuts
- Medicare, crop subsidies face automatic cuts under 2010 law
- Senate needs 60 votes — or a workaround — to turn off the cuts
Photographer: Stefani Reynolds/Pool/Getty Images
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President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package would trigger cuts to Medicare and other programs early next year unless Republicans agree to a waiver — a hurdle that could give the GOP leverage over Democrats’ slim majorities.
The Congressional Budget Office said in a letter Thursday to House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy that Medicare would face a $36 billion cut, and as much as $90 billion in other programs would be slashed.