Once again, Congress has waited until the last second to get budgetary legislation on the desk of the president.
This time, however, the GOP is shooting itself in the foot by pushing losing issues, and it could wind up costing Trump his “big, beautiful bill.”
It is political suicide in this country to cut programs like Social Security and Medicaid, as millions of Americans depend on these benefits to live.
As Democrats hammered the GOP on possible cuts, the Trump administration announced that it would be protecting these programs, not cutting them.
In March, the administration sent out a press release, which stated, “The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it (over and over and over again). Elon Musk didn’t say that, either. The press is lying again.
“Here is Musk’s direct quote: ‘The waste and fraud in entitlement spending — which is most of the federal spending is entitlements — so, that’s, like, the big one to eliminate. That’s the, sort of half-trillion, maybe $6-700 billion a year.’”
When the cuts were first discussed by Democrats, Speaker Johnson (R-LA) assured everyone that Medicaid cuts were not even mentioned in the framework of the bill, but there is now apparently a contingent of the GOP that does want to make cuts to these programs.
Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) stated, “Mr. Trump has promised working-class tax cuts and protection for working-class social insurance, such as Medicaid.
“But now a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans — call it the party’s Wall Street wing — is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance.”
I have to admit, I was rather stunned to hear that with how adamant Trump has been about not cutting these programs.
The process has been painfully slow, and it is once again raising questions about the leadership capabilities of Johnson.
Johnson, however, is deflecting, acting as though everything is just fine, stating, “We’re still in the consensus-building business around here, as we are every single day. I’m very encouraged by our position in this and the progress that’s being made, and I think the final product is gonna be very favorable to everybody.”
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is responsible for the Medicaid portion of the bill, and it is challenged with cutting $880 billion without making actual cuts to benefits, which most experts say is virtually impossible to do.
I can tell you this… any cuts to services in Medicaid that costs people their insurance will be a death sentence for the GOP come 2026 and 2028. I am all for revamping these programs to find fraud and waste that is taking place, and rest assured, it likely is, but now may not be the time. Fund the program, then continue to work on revamping it for the next budget if you cannot figure out the right way to do it now. They really need to start thinking big picture here.
