President Donald Trump’s endorsement of House Republicans’ budget plan Wednesday could come with a qualifying condition: no major changes to Medicaid.
Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity during a joint interview with Department of Government Efficiency chair Elon Musk Tuesday evening that Medicaid is not going to be “touched” barring instances of fraud and illegal migrants caught abusing the program. The president’s pledge to preserve Medicaid could create problems for the House GOP’s budget plans, which are seeking to cut roughly $2 trillion in mandatory spending.
.@realDonaldTrump is right!
House Republicans are working to deliver President Trump’s FULL agenda – not just a small part of it.
Let’s get it done, @HouseGOP! pic.twitter.com/Hw32oLAl0z
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) February 19, 2025
The White House emphasized that Trump is committed to protecting Medicaid while allowing for changes to the program to root out waste, fraud and abuse, in a statement given to the Daily Caller News Foundation Wednesday.
“The American people gave President Trump a mandate to improve health care for everyday Americans while streamlining our bloated government,” White House spokesman Kush Desai told the DCNF. “The Trump administration is committed to protecting Medicare and Medicaid while slashing the waste, fraud, and abuse within those programs – reforms that will increase efficiency and improve care for beneficiaries.”
Trump’s signal to House Republicans that major cuts to Medicaid would not have his support in a budget reconciliation package drew praise from GOP lawmakers concerned that spending cuts could negatively impact their constituents.
“I appreciate President Trump reiterating on Hannity last night his commitment to PRESERVING Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid for deserving beneficiaries while rooting out the waste, fraud and abuse that have drained these important programs & put their sustainability at risk,” Republican New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis wrote on X Wednesday morning. “We must ensure our fellow Republicans pass a budget that reflects these priorities.”
However, it is not immediately clear whether the House GOP will be able to identify enough funding offsets in an upcoming budget reconciliation package to exclude policy changes to Medicaid, which could yield substantial savings.
The House Budget Committee advanced a budget resolution on Feb. 13 setting instructions for a budget reconciliation bill allowing for up to $4.5 trillion in deficit increases and a $1.5 trillion floor in spending cuts over a ten-year window. The budget panel also adopted an amendment pushed by conservative fiscal hawks that would trigger a dollar-by-dollar decrease in the amount of deficit increases allowed if Republicans fail to identify $2 trillion in spending cuts.
The budget resolution gave instructions to the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) committee to identify at least $880 billion in spending cuts over a ten-year period. The influential committee has jurisdiction over Medicaid and Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie of Kentucky has floated changes to the entitlement program to yield spending offsets.
Taking Medicaid cuts off the table in budget reconciliation barring instances of waste, fraud and abuse could make House E&C committee’s math more difficult to identify nearly $900 billion in spending offsets, Heritage Foundation director of the Center for the Federal Budget Richard Stern told the DCNF.
However, Stern noted that the House E&C Committee could potentially identify roughly $500 billion in improper Medicaid payments over a decade. Guthrie is also likely to seek deficit reduction by changing federal energy policy to increase energy production and pursue broadband auctions, according to Stern.
Speculation that the House GOP could seek to cut Medicaid to offset spending and tax priorities has gotten significant pushback from a variety of camps within the GOP, from centrist GOP lawmakers representing competitive House districts, to former Trump campaign CEO Steve Bannon.
“I’m concerned that $880 billion out of [the House Energy & Commerce Committee] is likely very steep cuts to Medicaid – and it’s the very thing President Trump asked us not to do,” Republican Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, a centrist lawmaker who won reelection in a Harris-district, told Fox News Digital Tuesday.
I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it. Pennsylvania’s Eighth District chose me to advocate for them in…
— Congressman Rob Bresnahan Jr. (@RepBresnahan) February 14, 2025
“Medicaid, you gotta be careful,” Bannon said on “War Room” last Thursday. “Because a lot of MAGAs are on Medicaid, I’m telling you. If you don’t think so, you are dead wrong.”
Roughly 72 million Americans rely on Medicaid, including many of the president’s supporters. More than a fourth of West Virginia residents are enrolled in Medicaid as of October 2024. The president notably won more than 70% of the vote in the state last November.
Trump notably won a majority of voters earning less than $50,000 per year in November, according to Financial Times analysis of exit polling.
Despite Trump throwing his weight behind House Republicans’ budget plan, Johnson may not have the votes to pass a budget resolution that tees up a bill imposing steep cuts given the lower chamber’s razor-thin majority.
“If Johnson had the votes he would have done it last week,” a source familiar told the DCNF. “You go to the floor when you have the votes.”
Senate Republicans are continuing to advance their own budget proposal as part of a two-bill approach, which would tackle border security, defense spending and energy production first and the president’s tax priorities later in the year.
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