WASHINGTON, June 26 (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. Senate are working to revise President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill after a nonpartisan referee ruled that some elements do not comply with the complex rules they are using to bypass Democrats’ objections.
Here are some of the provisions that Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth McDonough has ruled out of bounds, according to Democratic lawmakers:
HEALTHCARE
* Limiting or denying Medicaid coverage for some non-citizen immigrants
* Limiting Affordable Care Act healthcare subsidies for some non-citizen immigrants
* Prohibiting Medicaid funding for hormone therapy and other “gender affirming care” for transgender patients.
* Limiting state “provider taxes” that boost federal Medicaid contributions
* Eliminating Affordable Care Act subsidies to healthcare plans that cover abortion
IMMIGRATION
* Limiting grants to “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement
* Giving local officials the power to arrest immigrants suspected of being in the country illegally
* Allowing states to conduct border security and immigration enforcement
COURTS
* Limiting federal courts’ power to block government policies by requiring challengers to post a bond
ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT
* Exempting offshore oil and gas projects from environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act
* Mandating sale of millions of acres of public land controlled by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management
* Allowing natural gas exporters to pay a fee to overcome a hurdle in the approval process
* Removing the Secretary of the Interior’s discretion to reduce fees for solar and wind projects on public land
FINANCIAL REGULATION
* Eliminating the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
* Reducing pay of Federal Reserve staff
* Cutting $293 from the Fed’s Office of Financial Research
* Eliminating Public Company Accounting Oversight Board
STUDENT AID
* Denying federal student aid for some non-citizen immigrants
* Consolidating student loan repayment programs
* Expanding Pell Grants to programs at unaccredited and for-profit schools
FOOD
* Requiring states to cover more of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Republicans say they have won approval to keep this provision in the bill after they revised it to give states more flexibility.
* Barring many immigrants from SNAP
GOVERNMENT
* Reducing retirement benefits for new hires unless they agree to reduced employment protections
* Imposing a $350 fee for federal employees to file a case with a board that enforces civil-service protections
* Establishing an incentive program for federal employees to identify “unnecessary expenditures”
* Charging employee unions a fee for use of official time and agency resources by labor representatives
* Requiring the U.S. Postal Service to sell its electrical vehicles and infrastructure
* Prohibiting agencies from creating or administering any regulations that cost or raise money if they are not authorized by law
* $250 million to repair a Coast Guard pier in Texas
* $85 million to transfer a Space Shuttle from the Smithsonian to a nonprofit in Houston. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Scott Malone and Alistair Bell)
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