Republicans are poised to slash $1.5 trillion in government spending but have no reported plans to cut Medicaid.
A recent spending proposal from President Trump’s administration called for $2 trillion in spending cuts, including $800 billion from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees programs like Medicaid and Medicare. Democrats have accused Republicans of wanting to cut Medicaid in particular, although no cuts for Medicaid have been explicitly mentioned. California Congressman Jimmy Panetta said Republicans would “have” to cut either Medicaid or Medicare, noting the two programs accounted for “90%” of the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s budget.
Republicans are pushing back on assertions from Democrats that they plan to cut funding for Medicaid recipients as part of push for cuts in government spending. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said per-capita Medicaid spending was “off the table” but proposed potential work requirements for some beneficiaries of the program. Johnson’s comments came as he and some of his colleagues disputed reports that cutting Medicaid was part of the over $1 trillion in spending cuts that President Trump is seeking. Republicans recent budget proposal that passed the House focuses specifically on spending cuts but has no mention of Medicaid or Medicare anywhere in the proposal. Instead, Republicans focus, according to Johnson, is to ensure all potential fraud is located. A recent poll also confirmed that a majority of Trump’s voters do not support cuts to Medicaid.
Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) asserted that GOP spending cuts that would impact Medicaid would not affect those who are ‘legitimate’ recipients of the government-funded healthcare program. Perry’s comments came during an interview with NewsNation anchor Chris Stirewalt and comes as Perry’s fellow Republicans are pushing for federal budget cuts. The Office of Budget Management stated that only about 4% of Medicaid payments are reportedly improper, and accounts for just over $31 billion of Medicaid spending.
“There’s money to be found here, Chris, and we’re going to find every single bit of it because the American taxpayer is sick of spending their money and sending it to Washington and getting nothing for it while the country and they go broke,” Perry said. He also argued that keeping illegal immigrants from accessing government programs would help cut spending without impeding Medicaid access for eligible participants, something President Trump has long supported.
At President Trump’s address to a joint session of Congress last week, Rep. Al Green interrupted the speech by shouting “no mandate”, which he said was a protest to Republicans alleged plan to cut Medicaid. President Trump did not at any point mention Medicaid or cuts to Medicaid during his speech to Congress, and said the “next step” was to work on passing tax cuts to help stimulate the economy. Several Democrats attended the speech with “save Medicaid” written on placards placed on their desks.
