President Donald Trump said this week that Medicare and day care were too expensive for the federal government to cover, reversing himself on explicit campaign promises to protect the seniors’ health insurance program and address child care costs.
“I said to Russell, ‘Don’t send any money for day care because the United States can’t take care of day care,’” Trump said Wednesday at a private lunch observing the Easter holiday. He was referring to White House budget director Russell Vought.
“We’re a big country,” Trump went on. “We have 50 states. We have all these other people. We’re fighting wars. It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these things.”
The comments contradicted pledges Trump routinely made as a candidate to preserve Social Security and Medicare. In a town hall at the Economic Club of New York in September 2024, Trump specifically committed to prioritizing legislation to make child care more affordable, arguing that tariff revenue would easily cover the costs.
“Child care is child care,” he said then. “You have to have it. In this country, you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I’m talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they’re not used to but they’ll get used to very quickly … those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we’re talking about, including child care, that it’s going to take care.”
A White House spokeswoman argued that Trump was referring to fighting fraud in Medicare and Medicaid. In the minutes leading up to his comments Wednesday on Medicare and child care, Trump criticized Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota), called on Vice President JD Vance (who was also at Wednesday event and is leading a task force targeting welfare fraud) and alluded to allegations of fraudulent day care providers in California, Minnesota and Maine.
“President Trump was referring to rooting out the billions of dollars of fraud in these vital programs — and his record proves he will always protect and strengthen Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid,” White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales said. “The President proudly signed historic legislation eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits for nearly all seniors and barring illegal immigrants and other ineligible individuals from fraudulently receiving Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The Trump economic agenda will continue to lower costs, making everyday life more affordable for hardworking American families.”
A spokeswoman for Vought did not comment on the exchange Trump described.
Medicare covers 66 million Americans age 65 or older, at an annual cost of about $1.1 trillion. About 84.5 million people receive Medicaid benefits, at a cost of $932 billion, according to the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
The federal government spent $29 billion on child care subsidies in 2022, the most recent data available from the Office of Child Care at the Department of Health and Human Services. Full-time child care costs 9 to 16 percent of an average family’s income, more than rent in some counties, according to the Labor Department’s National Database of Childcare Prices.
Trump’s tariffs generated customs duties of $287 billion in 2025, according to Treasury Department data. The Supreme Court ruled in February that the tariffs exceeded the president’s authority, leading companies to start demanding refunds.
Democrats quickly highlighted Trump’s comments and suggested they would feature in this year’s midterms. A clip posted on an X account run by the Democratic National Committee had logged more than 12 million views by midday Thursday.
“Trump says his war is more important than daycare,” DNC chairman Ken Martin posted. “This is a statement on priorities, and for Trump, America comes last.”
It is not clear whether Trump knew his comments would be publicly available. The Easter lunch was not listed as open to reporters on the White House’s daily schedule. A White House account posted a video of the event and subsequently removed it. Wales did not address whether Trump knew his remarks were public.
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