Thune faces GOP divisions on critical budget resolution

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

58% : "In my state, there are more than 400,000 Mainers that rely on that health care program.
57% : "Our ability to maintain those hospitals and keep their doors open is a major priority for me," he said, noting that rural hospitals in Kansas receive 9 percent of their revenue from Medicaid.
51% : Several Republican senators have stated clearly that they won't support big cuts to Medicaid, which provide health care and nursing to hundreds of thousands of their constituents.
51% : "I'm concerned about the instruction to the House Committee for $880 billion, it's the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, because I don't see how you can get to that amount without cutting Medicaid benefits," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters.
42% : The size of potential cuts to Medicaid is another major point of friction within the Senate GOP conference.
41% : Doing so would treat an extension of the 2017 tax cuts as an extension of the status quo that would not add to the deficit -- at least according to the official cost projections of the Congressional Budget Committee and Joint Committee on Taxation.
38% : The Senate budget resolution includes language drafted by House Republicans instructing the House Energy and Commerce Committee to reduce the deficit by $880 billion, a target that policy experts say can't be met without cutting deeply into Medicaid.
38% : So the last thing I want to do is cut Medicaid for vulnerable people who are disabled or seniors who cannot work," she said.
34% : If Republican senators vote with Democrats to pass an amendment walling off Medicaid or other mandatory spending programs from significant cuts, it could set up a serious conflict with House Republicans.
31% : Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kan.) warned that cuts to Medicaid would threaten the financial viability of rural hospitals in Kansas.

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