President Donald Trump signs the One Big Beautiful Bill Act during a picnic with military families to mark Independence Day, at the White House in Washington, D.C., on July 4, 2025. (Reuters/Ken Cedeno)
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said committee Republicans would meet this week to discuss "Medicaid reform."
"Same thing we debated before, same thing that we were fighting for," Norman told Fox News Digital. "I don’t know that the appetite is there right now, but we’ll see."
Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, chair of the House Budget Committee, confirmed to Fox News Digital that his panel had begun laying the groundwork for a second reconciliation package.
"Reversing the curse is a continuous effort when you’re $36-plus trillion in the hole," Arrington said, referencing the national debt. "It's going to take more than one reconciliation bill to get out of it. So that process is underway."
He added that details remain fluid, with ongoing talks between his committee and leaders of other House panels on what should be included.
When asked about Medicaid specifically, Arrington said he supported proposals potentially blocking federal dollars from covering transgender medical procedures and from going to illegal immigrants.
"I'd be shocked if those don't go back in, in some form," he said. "They also happen to be 80-20 issues, like 80% of the American people would expect that that already happens and are shocked that it's not happening."
Arrington suggested that more contentious ideas, such as altering the federal-state cost sharing ratio for Medicaid — known as FMAP — would likely not be central to the new bill. Conservative Republicans had pushed for changes to FMAP during the first reconciliation effort, but the proposal divided the party.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speak at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol on June 11, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Democrats have seized on the GOP’s Medicaid proposals as a political weapon, accusing Republicans of pushing millions off the program to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. GOP lawmakers have pushed back on that charge and even accused Democrats of lying about the bill.
The path forward remains uncertain, however, with skepticism about whether both chambers have the appetite for another reconciliation bill.
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The first package, though a major GOP victory, took months of negotiation and internal wrangling.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., declined to directly assess the odds of a second reconciliation bill when asked Tuesday.
"If we're going to go down the road of a second reconciliation bill, we suggest cancel the healthcare cuts and save our hospitals," Jeffries said. "That should be the focus of a second reconciliation bill. It's something that Democrats will broadly support."
Budget reconciliation allows the party in power to pass vast pieces of policy legislation while sidelining opposition, in this case Democrats, by lowering the Senate's passage threshold from 60 votes to 51. It can only be used three times in a single congressional term.
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/scoop-house-gop-eyes-more-medicaid-reforms-2nd-budget-bill