44 Senators Vote to Keep Illegals on Medicaid, Unelected Bureaucrat Helps [WATCH]

The U.S. Senate on Monday voted against a provision that would have barred illegal aliens from receiving Medicaid benefits, dealing a setback to a key part of President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

During the chamber’s vote-a-rama on the legislation, the measure fell short by a vote of 56-44.

The provision aimed to eliminate fraudulent access to Medicaid by individuals residing in the country illegally but required 60 votes for passage due to a ruling from the Senate Parliamentarian.

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The Parliamentarian invoked the Byrd Rule, which limits what can be included in reconciliation legislation and raised the vote threshold for the provision from a simple majority to a supermajority.

What’s the point of senate republicans holding a majority if some unelected bureaucrat can control WHAT they are voting on under the banner of “procedure” pic.twitter.com/V7ojJuBKXg

— Carl Higbie (@CarlHigbie) June 30, 2025

Had the measure been subject to a standard majority vote, it would have passed.

🚨 BREAKING: U.S. Senate rejects measure to kick illegal aliens off Medicaid, 56-44.

It was GOING to only need 50+1 votes…

…but the DEMOCRAT PARLIAMENTARIAN decided it needed 60 votes while scrutinizing the Big Beautiful Bill.

FIRE HER!!!! pic.twitter.com/jPAe9rb24X

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 30, 2025

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The failed vote follows vocal opposition from Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), who criticized the bill’s changes to Medicaid eligibility during floor debate.

Tillis, who recently announced he will not seek re-election after being publicly criticized by President Trump, claimed the legislation would harm Americans.

“Republicans are about to make a mistake on health care and betray a promise. It is inescapable that this bill in its current form will betray the very promise that Donald J. Trump made in the Oval Office—or in the Cabinet Room, when I was there with Finance—where he said, ‘we can go after waste, fraud, and abuse on any programs,’” Tillis said, arguing that President Trump had been misled about the bill’s content.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt directly addressed Tillis’s remarks during a briefing earlier Monday, defending the legislation and rejecting Tillis’s interpretation.

“He is just wrong, and the President and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right,” Leavitt said.

“This bill protects Medicaid, as I laid out for you, for those who truly deserve this program—the needy, pregnant women, children, sick Americans who physically cannot work.”

Leavitt emphasized that the bill maintains protections for vulnerable Americans while implementing a work requirement for able-bodied adults.

“And what it does is it ensures that able-bodied Americans who can work 20 hours a week are actually doing so, and that will therefore strengthen and protect those benefits for Americans who need it,” she added.

“As well as cutting out the waste, fraud and abuse, as well as getting 1.4 million illegal aliens off of the program.”

“So all of those measures are actually going to protect it for those who need it. That’s the President’s position, and that’s what this bill does, and that’s why Republicans need to vote for it and get it to the President’s desk,” Leavitt concluded.

Despite the setback on the Medicaid provision, the bill as amended continues to move forward.

The House of Representatives is scheduled to take up the Senate-passed version of the bill on Wednesday.

The final outcome remains uncertain, as some Republican lawmakers have expressed concern over changes made to the bill during the Senate’s deliberations.

The extent of any internal opposition among House Republicans has not yet been made public.