In the wake of the 2024 election, the Republican regime in Washington is poised to cut Medicaid funding to finance tax cuts for the wealthy, a strategy reminiscent of their previous attempts that failed in 2017. The tight GOP control over the House, coupled with the influence of the House Freedom Caucus, indicates a strong push towards dismantling Medicaid. Despite Democratic warnings, Republicans continue to deny these plans, even as budget resolutions are crafted that effectively lay the groundwork for substantial cuts to mandatory spending programs like Medicaid.
During the run-up to the passage of a budget resolution in the House, Speaker Mike Johnson reassured Republicans in marginal districts who were getting hammered over Medicaid that there were no actual Medicaid cuts in that resolution. This was technically true in the sense that the words 'Medicaid cuts' did not appear in the legislation. But its whole purpose was to set up a budget reconciliation bill that would in fact all but require Medicaid cuts.
First of all, its Trump 1.0 predecessors did so in 2017 and failed, which had to stick in many craws. Second, the budgetary arithmetic of the agenda Donald Trump campaigned on required major domestic-spending cuts while putting the largest domestic-spending programs, Social Security and Medicare, off-limits.
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