Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy knelt on the Senate floor on Thursday to urge Senate Majority Leader John Thune to bring up another reconciliation bill.
The Republican Party is weighing another reconciliation bill, with Thune saying a potential option could be related to alleged Minnesota fraud, Fox News reported on Thursday. Kennedy made the plea during a speech addressing the alleged fraud.
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“We need to do another reconciliation bill to fix the welfare system and stop the stealing. Stop the stealing. And we can do it with all Republican votes,” Kennedy said. “So please, Senator Thune, pretty please. As I’ve said before. I’m shameless. I’ll beg. I’ll get down on my knees. John, please bring another reconciliation bill. We can do so much, but we can start with fixing welfare fraud. Please, John, please let us do the bill.”
Thune said the reconciliation process, which would enable Republicans to bypass a Democratic filibuster, was not ideal, according to Fox News.
“I always think the best solution, if possible, is to try and do things through regular order,” he said.
However, Speaker Mike Johnson said on “The Scott Jennings Show” on Wednesday that he was “working right now very methodically, carefully to determine what of our priorities we can squeeze into a second reconciliation bill with the idea we’d move that early in the year.”
Republican Missouri Rep. Jason Smith, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, said in December that he did not “see a path of a second reconciliation ever passing.” President Donald Trump also said in December that Republicans “don’t need” another major reconciliation bill “because we got everything” in the significant tax cut and spending package enacted in July.
YouTuber Nick Shirley posted a viral video on Dec. 26, featuring visits to day care centers in Minnesota participating in taxpayer-funded programs that appeared to be non-operational. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson asserted on Dec. 18 that fraud in Minnesota’s Medicaid program could exceed $9 billion.
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