A new report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released on Wednesday proves that Republicans were lying when they downplayed the effect that the House’s budget blueprint would have on Medicaid.
Republicans have been claiming that their budget—which calls for the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut $880 billion in order to partly pay for the tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers—would not target Medicaid.
“The word Medicaid is not even in this bill,” Republican Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana said at a news conference on Capitol Hill the day the budget passed. “Democrats are lying about what’s in the bill.”
Calling their bluff, Democrats on the House Budget Committee asked the CBO to determine the breakdown of funding the House Energy and Commerce Committee oversees.
And indeed, the CBO report determined that—excluding Medicare, which Trump and Republicans wouldn't touch—Medicaid accounts for 93% of the funding the committee oversees. That means in order to find $880 billion in cuts, the vast majority of that would need to come from Medicaid (or Medicare).
Brendan Boyle, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee
"I keep hearing Republicans claim their budget doesn't cut Medicaid. We all know that's a lie — so I asked the nonpartisan CBO to look into it," Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, wrote in a post on X. "Their analysis confirms it: the Republican budget delivers the largest Medicaid cuts in history to pay for giveaways to billionaires."
Cutting Medicaid—which provides health insurance to 72 million low-income Americans—is deeply unpopular.
A Civiqs poll conducted for Daily Kos from Feb. 28 to March 3 found that 63% of registered voters oppose cutting Medicaid and food stamps—another social safety net program that the Republican-passed budget blueprint is also expected to cut. The poll found that every demographic group sampled opposes cutting Medicaid and food stamps—except for Republican voters.
The fact that Republicans want to slash Medicaid and food assistance to pay for Trump’s tax cuts has led to backlash from voters, who are showing up at Republican town halls to voice their anger.
The town halls have been so ugly for Republicans that GOP leaders have ordered their members to stop holding in-person events so that they cannot be dressed down by their constituents.
Of course, the budget blueprint Republicans passed is not final. The House Energy and Commerce Committee now has to lay out the specifics of what they will cut to achieve the $880 billion reduction. And given that we now know the cuts would have to come largely from Medicaid (or Medicare), it’s unclear whether House Republicans can cobble together support from their vulnerable members to get those cuts passed.
Still, all but one Republican lawmaker voted for the Republican budget blueprint. And Democrats are likely to use that fact in ads in the 2026 midterms.
“This letter from CBO confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the math doesn’t work without devastating Medicaid cuts,” Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone of New Jersey said in a statement. “Republicans know their spin is a lie, and the truth is they have no problem taking health care away from millions of Americans so that the rich can get richer and pay less in taxes than they already do.”
Thank you to the Daily Kos community who continues to fight so hard with Daily Kos. Your reader support means everything. We will continue to have you covered and keep you informed, so please donate just $3 to help support the work we do.
