Senate Republicans are continuing their push to get the budget reconciliation bill on the floor by the weekend. But on Wednesday GOP senators were continuing to struggle over how to help rural hospitals deal with the bill’s Medicaid funding cuts.
Senate Finance Committee Republicans floated a proposal for a fund to stabilize rural hospitals.
State of play: Republicans such as Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Jim Justice, R-W. Va., have been vocal with concerns about how funding cuts could affect rural hospitals, many of which are already at risk of closing. The Senate Finance proposal suggests setting up a $15 billion fund. But as of Wednesday evening, Justice said the number was “jumping all over the place,” from $20 billion to $100 billion. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, has been pushing for a number closer to $100 billion.
Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said the conference is generally in agreement on having a fund.
Hawley said the ultimate design of the fund also matters in terms of how much goes to rural hospitals and how it’s used. He said he’d like to see the Senate move closer to the House proposal on Medicaid. Even with the rural hospital fund, he thinks Congress would need to fix this framework down the road.
“I wouldn’t do any of this,” Hawley said of the Senate changes to Medicaid provider taxes. “I think it is creating a problem and, yeah, it does not make a lot of sense.”
Senate Dems: Rescissions could kill future budget compromise
Senate Democrats are warning that Senate approval of a House-passed rescissions bill would undermine the budgetary process and could quash future compromise.
“None of us would sit here and agree to bipartisan bills knowing that their partners were just going to gut that deal with rescissions,” Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Patty Murray, D-Wash., warned during a hearing Wednesday. She added that passing the recissions bill would “gut the heart of compromise.”
Take note: The bill would codify $9.4 billion DOGE-inspired spending cuts from funds that Congress previously approved. Among the cuts included in the legislation are foreign assistance and public health programs, including food security funding.
“If our funding bills must be bipartisan, then our funding cuts have to be as well,” added Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii.
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But, but, but: GOP committee Chair Susan Collins of Maine is also skeptical about rescissions. She pressed Management and Budget Director Russell Vought on why the administration needed to go after congressionally approved funding to combat waste and abuse.
Now it’s MOHA: RFK Jr. to be in Oklahoma for event
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is slated to join the Oklahoma governor today to launch a “Make Oklahoma Healthy Again” campaign.
The campaign promotes “common-sense health policies, medical freedom and a return to personal responsibility,” according to the HHS advisory. Gov. Kevin Stitt has not released more details about the strategy, but at previous appearances in states on MAHA issues, Kennedy has highlighted efforts to cut food dyes and additives from the food supply.
On Friday, Kennedy will also join Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, who is expected to sign his state’s MAHA bill into law. The bill touches on a number of MAHA priorities, including a provision requiring restaurants to note on menus if items are cooked using seed oils.
The law also requires food items with one of several ingredients to be labeled with a QR code that directs consumers to a notice on certain ingredients. It also bans several food dyes, additives and artificial sweeteners from school meals beginning in the 2028-2029 school year.
Take note: Earlier this week, Kennedy’s MAHA allies — including Calley Means and Vani Hari, also known as the Food Babe — joined Texas Gov. Greg Abbott when he signed a similar bill. One provision requires food manufacturers to include a warning label if a product contains one of 44 ingredients.
OBBB criticized for benefiting large farmers at expense of small ones
The “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill would overwhelmingly benefit large farms at the expense of small ones, some farm program critics told reporters on Wednesday.
“This legislation that the ag committees have produced is clear fiscal malpractice,” said Josh Sewell of Taxpayers for Common Sense. Sewell was joined on the call by consultant Ferd Hoefner, formerly of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, and the Environmental Working Group’s Scott Faber.
Among the provisions they criticized: increases in farm subsidy payment limits and an exemption for large farms from a longstanding means test used to determine disaster aid and other payments.
Faber said, “perhaps the most troubling provision … [would allow] every individual member of a farm organized as a joint venture or LLC to collect up to $155,000,” a $30,000 increase.
Hoefner said the end result will be “more farm consolidation, more economic concentration. It means smaller family farms are put at a competitive disadvantage in the rental market and the real estate market in general. It's devastating for beginning farmers.”
July 4 cookout prices plateau, survey shows
The average Fourth of July cookout for 10 guests will cost Americans $70.92 this year, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual survey. That’s down just 30 cents from the 2024 figure of $71.22, which was an all-time high. Despite prices beginning to level out, a 2025 cookout still costs 19% more than it did five years ago.
Of the cookout ingredients surveyed, there were price declines in six foods: pork chops, hamburger buns, potato chips, chicken breasts, chocolate chip cookies and cheese. The average retail price of a two-pound pack of ground beef in 2025 is $13.33, up 4.4% from 2024 and the highest price ever recorded in the survey.
Texas establishes screwworm response team
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has directed the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Texas Animal Health Commission to establish a joint response team for New World screwworm.
In a letter, Abbott says the recent screwworm outbreaks in Central America and Mexico pose “a serious threat to Texas livestock and wildlife” and outbreaks in the state “could result in severe economic losses and ecological disruption.”
Final word
“If our funding bills must be bipartisan, then our funding cuts have to be as well.” — Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, on the GOP rescissions package.
Rebekah Alvey, Allie Herring and Oliver Ward contributed to today’s Daybreak.
