U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly used a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday to instruct them not to "fuck around with Medicaid" as the party rushes ahead with legislation that proposes the largest Medicaid cuts in American history.
Trump's remarks indicate he's either unaware of the specifics of the "big, beautiful bill" that he has championed or doesn't mind the unprecedented Medicaid cuts that are currently in the text—but doesn't want them to go any further.
Republican hardliners are actively pushing to cut the key healthcare program even more aggressively, including by moving up the start date for work requirements and slashing federal payments to states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
"Don't fuck around with Medicaid," Trump said during the private meeting with House Republicans, Politico reported, citing two unnamed GOP lawmakers.
"Working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
In its current form, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates, the House GOP reconciliation bill would slash Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade and remove at least 10 million people from the program—likely with deadly consequences. (KFF, a health policy research group, provides a detailed summary of the bill's Medicaid provisions here.)
The legislation also includes nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the Unrig Our Economy coalition, said in response to Trump's private comments that "working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
"With a floor vote on the horizon, will House Republicans fuck around with Medicaid to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies?" Or will they finally listen?" Christian asked. "All eyes are on them this week."
Trump's meeting with House Republicans came hours before the chamber's GOP-controlled rules panel is set to convene for a dead-of-night hearing on the reconciliation package.
The 1 am ET meeting was scheduled shortly after Republicans on the House Budget Committee cut a deal to deepen the legislation's cuts to Medicaid and other programs.
According to a new CBO analysis, the House Republican measure would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by more than a third by 2034.
"This would rip food assistance away from millions of people, including households with children as young as 7 years old," said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress.
Republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
