A Dispatch on GOP Medicaid Cuts and the Constitution
Dear friend,
I’m writing to you from Washington with a quick dispatch on a couple of important updates.
REPUBLICAN PLANS FOR MEDICAID WILL RESULT IN MILLIONS LOSING HEALTH COVERAGE
House Republicans are frantically discussing how they can advance their plan to give the President’s wealthiest friends and biggest supporters new tax breaks while putting more and new burdens on American workers and their families. One of the Republicans’ biggest targets for cuts is the Medicaid program that provides health care to more than 70 million Americans, pays for 41% of all births and maternal care in the country, and covers nearly 2/3 of all long-term care across the nation.
Republicans passed legislation in March requiring $880 billion in savings from programs under the jurisdiction of the Energy & Commerce (E&C) Committee. Speaker Johnson and E&C Chair Guthrie want us to believe that they can find $880 billion (that’s $880 million x 1,000) from programs other than Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Here’s the rub: Medicare represents approximately 60%, Medicaid 38% and CHIP 1% of total E&C responsibility. That leaves less than 2% remaining for cuts, and only about 1/3 ($135 billion) of that 2% is eligible for cutting. In other words, despite what Republicans might wish to be true, it is simply not possible to cut $880 billion without cutting funds going to Medicare, Medicaid or CHIP. However, Medicare is off-limits so the cuts have to come from Medicaid.
What would happen if Republicans cut between $500 billion and $800 billion from Medicaid? A new analysis by the nonpartisan, independent Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released yesterday states such cuts would take away health insurance from millions of Americans, shrink payments to health providers (which would likely lead to the closure of small rural and safety-net hospitals), and force states to replace lost federal Medicaid funding by raising taxes and/or cutting funding for things like schools, senior programs, and crucial infrastructure projects. Furthermore, the CBO analysis does not find any savings in the Republican proposals from eliminating fraud, waste, or abuse.
I believe Congress should focus on bringing down prices and growing our economy while also making our communities safer and healthier. Instead, Republicans’ budget bills will cut health care for kids, parents, seniors, and people with disabilities – only to pay for more expensive and unnecessary tax breaks for billionaires like Elon Musk.
Earlier this year, I was proud to introduce the Hands Off Medicaid and SNAP Act which will protect Medicaid and essential food assistance programs from the ill-advised cuts currently being considered. My colleagues and I are now working to force Speaker Johnson to let Congress vote on this bill, but we need some Republican colleagues to join us in that effort.
I am urging my Republican colleagues to sign the petition to let us vote to protect health care and fight hunger. We don’t need all the Republicans, we just need five!
WE ALL TAKE AN OATH TO UPHOLD THE CONSTITUTION
When is the last time you gave the Constitution a read? Since President Trump took office in January, I find myself reviewing it multiple times a week. It’s truly astonishing to see how the administration has taken unconstitutional action after unconstitutional action to consolidate power in the Executive Branch and implement the President’s Project 2025 policies.
The President, as well as all members of Congress, take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. So you can imagine my reaction watching the President’s weekend interview with NBC News’s Kristen Welker in which he said he did not know if he had a responsibility to uphold the Constitution. That absurd answer was during an exchange about whether President Trump believed citizens and noncitizens in the United States are entitled to due process of law (also a right enshrined in the Fifth Amendment).
I think the President needs to watch some Schoolhouse Rock and get a refresher on the Constitution. Or he can watch my short video explaining the oath of office we take to protect and defend the Constitution, where that document draws distinctions between “citizens” and other “persons,” as well as the rights prescribed within the Fifth Amendment for all persons.
Stay strong, stay safe, stay healthy.
Sincerely,
Bradley S. Schneider
Member of Congress