Medicaid concerns threaten GOP budget resolution

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Medicaid concerns threaten GOP budget resolution

House Republicans' budget resolution could be in jeopardy of not clearing the full chamber amid a chorus of opposition from swing-district members over likely substantial cuts to safety-net programs for low-income Americans — chiefly Medicaid.

Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.) and Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) — both of whom represent districts with a significant percentage of Medicaid recipients — told The Hill that they are withholding support from the budget resolution as they seek more information on the severity of the cuts and how they could impact their constituents, The Hill’s Mychael Schnell reported.

Valadao represents a Hispanic-majority district in California where 34 percent of adults are on Medicaid. In Malliotakis's New York district, 23 percent of adults have Medicaid coverage.

“To make up $880 billion, I need more clarity on how they’re going to make up that entire number and how that could potentially affect beneficiaries before I move forward in this process,” Malliotakis said.

Republicans can only afford to lose one vote if all members are present and the entire Democratic caucus opposes the measure, which is expected. At the current moment, key lawmakers say the resolution could be doomed to fail.

The House Budget Committee cleared the resolution on a party-line vote last week. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team — including Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) — are looking to push the resolution through the chamber and kick-start the process to pass President Trump’s domestic policy agenda as early as the week of Feb. 24, when the House returns.

The resolution is a blueprint for spending cuts. It outlines a $1.5 trillion floor for cuts across committees with a target of $2 trillion.

It leaves the particulars on those cuts up to the individual committees, but Republicans have made no secret of their desire to use Medicaid to finance a large portion of the bill, which will be used to extend Trump’s tax cuts and pay for border security measures.

The measure sets an $880 billion floor for the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid.

“There’s only one place you can go, and that’s Medicaid. That’s where the money is,” said Rep. Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho), who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee. “There’s others, don’t get me wrong, but if you’re gonna get to $900 billion, something has to be reformed on the Medicaid front.”

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