House Republicans are rushing full speed ahead to pass Donald Trump‘s agenda, but their efforts have hit a hurdle in the form of Medicaid.
There is a growing divide among House Republicans over using deep cuts to Medicaid to pay for their megabill with its massive tax cuts and provisions for border security and national defense.
GOP lawmakers are wrapping up their first week of committees starting to put a series of promises into legislative text after House Republicans passed a blueprint for $2 trillion in spending cuts that paved the way for slashing Medicaid before heading out on break.
Their return to Washington has highlighted the growing rift. Moderate House Republicans have raised concerns over rolling back the Medicaid expansion to help pay for Trump’s priorities.
But conservative Republicans on Capitol Hill are calling for steep cuts to the program that provides health insurance to low income Americans.
Speaker Mike Johnson will have his hands full with managing the intra-party fighting as he has almost no room for error with their slim majority and zero support from Democrats.
He told reporters on Monday that he still believes they can pass the bill by Memorial Day, giving him an aggressive timeline that’s even more ambitious than the Trump administration goal for Congress to get it done by July 4.
But Johnson doesn’t just have to get his divided caucus in line. He also has to convince the president to get onboard with the plan, and Trump has appeared resistant at times to chopping Medicaid.
Johnson and other GOP House leaders headed back over to the White House on Thursday to talk about Medicaid and other tax options with Trump after Johnson also met with the president on Monday.
Among options House Republicans are considering include limiting the federal allotment given to states that were expanding under Obamacare, Politico reported. That amounts to cuts.
It remains to be seen whether GOP House leaders can get Trump to fully agree or if they will have to go another route, but the president made a slight shift on the issue Thursday.
“We’re working very hard on a great big, beautiful bill,” Trump said at a National Day of Prayer event. “I just wanted to say the final details are coming together.”
Moments later, the president addressed Medicaid directly.
“One of the things that’s very important will be saving Medicaid for Americans in need,” the president said. “We will be saving Medicaid and strengthening it.”
He did not go into any detail on what exactly that would entail, but the comments were a change from what he said Wednesday night.
“We’re not doing anything with entitlements,” he told NewsNation at a town hall.
Up on Capitol Hill, the fiery debate played out throughout the week. Texas Congressman Chip Roy, a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, blasted his colleagues for saying not to touching Medicaid.
“Why can’t we?” Roy asked. “Medicaid was expanded under Obamacare which we all opposed, and the Medicaid expansion was a big reason why we opposed it.”
Roy has said he refuses to “ignore math” and if they cut taxes, they still have to slash spending as the national debt continues to balloon.
Ultra-conservative House members have $880 billion worth of savings in the part of the legislation put together by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, but that can only be reached with Medicaid cuts.
Centrist GOP members have pushed back on that figure. Congressman Don Bacon said he would support what would amount to $500 billion in Medicaid cuts through reforms like work requirements.
While the details are being worked out in the House, any final legislation and how it addresses Medicaid could have an even tougher time in the Senate. Their Republican blueprint only called for just $4 billion in spending cuts.
GOP Senator Josh Hawley has said numerous times he would not vote for Medicaid cuts.
The post Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill has a Massive Medicaid Problem appeared first on The Daily Beast.
