On Medicaid cuts, budget officials tell Republicans what they didn't want to hear [View all]
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Source: MSNBC News
March 6, 2025, 9:25 AM EST
When House Republicans advanced their far-right budget plan, congressional Democrats raised all kinds of concerns about the GOP’s misguided blueprint, but much of the focus was on one specific program: Medicaid. Republican leaders pushed back in a deeply misleading way.
“It doesn’t even mention Medicaid in the bill,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of his party’s budget. “The word ‘Medicaid’ is not even in this bill,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise added. “This bill doesn’t even mention the word ‘Medicaid’ a single time.”
The truth wasn’t nearly that simple. While the literal text of the bill didn’t reference specific Medicaid cuts, the GOP plan directed the congressional committee that oversees Medicaid to find $880 billion in cuts that can only be found in Medicaid.
A week later, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that Democratic criticisms were true. NBC News reported:
House Republicans can’t meet their own budget target that is necessary to pass President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda without making significant cuts to Medicare or Medicaid, the official budget scorekeeper confirmed Wednesday.
Read more: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/medicaid-cuts-budget-officials-tell-republicans-didnt-want-hear-rcna195095
Link to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) REPORT site - Mandatory Spending Under the Jurisdiction of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce
Link to Congressional Budget Office (CBO) REPORT (PDF) - https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2025-03/61235-Boyle-Pallone.pdf
As a note - when Congress does these "budget reconciliation" bills, CBO *must* "score" them for changes in revenue/outlays and impact on the deficit/debt. As they proceed, you will see more of these (unless Muskrat reaches into Congress and kills the office
).
Linked NBC story - Republicans can't meet their own budget target without cutting Medicare or Medicaid, budget office says
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