April 9, 2025

Here is a useful federal advocacy update from Community Catalyst on what is happening on the Hill, how to get involved, key points to keep in mind as we continue our advocacy to protect Medicaid from federal cuts., and an easy way for you to immediately connect with your House representative/s.  I am trying to sustain interest by offering a variety of methods for you and your colleagues to weigh in each day in a new way – to keep it fresh, so today’s messaging comes from Community Catalyst. Tomorrow it may be a different resource you can use.

UPDATED STATE OF PLAY

The Senate (where Republicans are in the majority) voted early Saturday to pass its revised budget resolution, which sets a relatively low floor for spending cuts on the Senate side. Two Republican Senators — Rand Paul (R-KY) and Susan Collins (R-ME)— voted against it, which means our advocacy has helped to peel off one additional vote since the procedural vote on Thursday. Of course, Sen. Paul’s defection is related to his objections to raising the debt limit, not to cutting Medicaid.

Notably, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) co-authored a bipartisan amendment with Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Sen. Wyden (D-OR) that would have blocked the House from cutting $880 billion from programs under the purview of Energy & Commerce (which oversees Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security) during last week’s Senate Vote-a-Rama.  Though the amendment failed in a 50-49 vote, it was a toss-up until the very end. Three Republicans voted for it — Sens. Hawley, Collins, and Murkowski (R-AK) — and other Senators, such as Tillis (R-NC) and Sullivan (R-AK), were reportedly wavering.

These vote margins are SLIM — which means your advocacy is WORKING!

On the House side (where Republicans are in the majority),  the Speaker is trying to move his conference forward and get a vote within the week. Johnson hopes to corral Republicans, with a combination of pressure from the White House and promises from House leadership, into a vote as early as tomorrow. Going into a Republican caucus meeting this morning, the Speaker still had a number of defectors from both his “moderate” ranks and from Freedom Caucus members who want to see even bigger cuts than those outlined in the original budget resolution. If he’s able to move them, a vote will happen quickly.

WHERE WE’RE GOING & WAYS TO ENGAGE

• Today and every day until the vote: Keep calling your Republican House members using this number that connects you to the Hands Off Medicaid Hotline. (Available in English or Spanish) at 866-426-2631.  
• Making the call is easy – all you have to do is dial, listen to the message and then put in your zip code followed by the pound sign.  The automated system will connect you with a House Republican (if you are represented by one) where you can leave a message with a staffer in the office.  If you are connected with a member of Congress who you know is already supportive of Congress keeping its hands off Medicaid, take a moment to thank the staff person for the Congresspersons ongoing support of Medicaid and take the opportunity to reinforce your positions as they relate specifically to mental health and/or substance use disorder care.  You can also talk about other pressing matters of importance to your agency.  
  • You can use this updated call script and other messaging tools to urge Republican members to protect their constituents’ access to Medicaid and other programs that keep them healthy. 
  • Check out these key message takeaways shared at a recent Cost & Coverage Collaborative briefing: Responding to Medicaid Work Requirements & Waste, Fraud, and Abuse.
• Wednesday, April 9: Join MomsRising for a Medicaid Story Storm on X from 2-3 p.m. ET and on Bluesky from 4-5 p.m. ET.
  • Flood social media with real stories about why Medicaid matters and why it must be protected from cuts. Hashtags coming soon!
• Thursday, April 10: Fair Share America is hosting a Care Can’t Wait Rally, cosponsored by Community Catalyst, to say No to Tax Breaks for Billionaires & Corporations at noon ET at the Capitol in Washington, D.C.
  • Share your story, and ask members of your communities to share theirs, about Medicaid through Community Catalyst’s Soapboxx page using these prompts:
    • How do you feel about giving tax breaks to the wealthy while cutting Medicaid for people with low incomes? and/or
    • How has having Medicaid helped you?
• The joint Congressional Recess April 11-27 will be a particularly important time to act.
  • Check out our recess tools from March, and keep checking back for new tools in the lead up to the next recess.

KEY POINTS TO KEEP IN MIND

• These margins are so CLOSE and we are making headway with messaging focused on protecting Medicaid!
• Keep up the pressure and hold members accountable – it’s not enough for your representative to offer to vote for an amendment that would protect Medicaid, if ultimately your representative votes to move a bill forward without the amendment.
• Members voting in favor of this resolution are voting to take people’s health care away – we cannot let them off the hook for that. 
• The most powerful messages underscore the human harm that will result from these votes in favor of tax cuts to billionaires —what it means for children, people with disabilities, older adults, etc. 
• All proposals must be characterized as massive cuts, whether it be eliminating provider taxes, Medicaid work reporting requirements, changes to FMAP or others. 
• Our goal is to build political pressure to defeat these cuts – that could mean providing political cover for Republican members willing to buck party leadership to protect health care for their constituents AND exacting accountability from members who vote in favor of these massive cuts. 
• Members will be taking these votes right before they return to their districts for another recess (April 11-27). They should know that their actions are being watched closely and that additional accountability actions will be taken (through town halls – including empty chair town halls, earned media, social media, public demonstrations, etc.) if they vote to take people’s health care away OR vote to make it easier to take people’s health care away in the committee process.