WASHINGTON — Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin did not mince words Wednesday as her Republican colleagues reportedly eye cuts to Medicaid, the taxpayer-funded program that provides health care coverage for millions of low-income and disabled people.
“This is a warning to our colleagues: Hands off Medicaid,” Baldwin said.
Republicans are looking at slashing funding to pay for tax cuts pushed by President Donald Trump, in part by establishing work requirements.
“Little things like that can make a big difference, not only in the budgeting process, but in the morale of the people,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana. “You know, work is good for you.”
Johnson and the President contend Republicans will only go after what they say are misused funds.
“Medicaid is infamous for fraud, waste and abuse,” Johnson said.
“If there are illegal migrants in the system, we're going to get them out of the system and all of that fraud,” President Trump said in a Fox News interview Tuesday.
A report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that there were more than $50 billion in improper Medicaid payments in fiscal year 2023. That’s a fraction of total Medicaid spending, which was $860 billion that year, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
But President Trump endorsed the House GOP budget plan Wednesday, one Democrats said goes far beyond cuts to careless spending.
“We do not want to see fraud. We do not want to see waste. We want to see efficiency,” Baldwin said. “We are talking about massive cuts to the children, people with disabilities, rural Americans, seniors.”
Baldwin added that many rural hospitals rely on Medicaid to keep their doors open. That's because Medicaid ensures doctors get paid for patients' treatments.
Democrats acknowledge they have limited legislative power to stop the budget from landing on President Trump’s desk as is, but they say if and when there’s fallout related to Medicaid cuts, Republicans will be to blame.
“To be clear here on this budget reconciliation process, the Republicans have complete control of this,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-New Hampshire. “These are majority vote thresholds, so this is up to the Republicans about whether they are going to go through with the President's commitment to cut taxes for multibillionaires at the expense of the Medicaid program and other critical programs that the American people rely on. This is what the Republicans are in control of, and it is on them if these Medicaid cuts go through.”
