Congressional Republicans on Sunday embraced the proposed changes to Medicaid in the “big, beautiful bill” that Democrats and a few GOP lawmakers warn will leave millions of Americans without health coverage.
Republicans said Medicaid spending has spiked in recent years, and that the latest version of President Trump’s signature economic proposal seeks to curb future spending on the program, rather than cut it.
“Here’s what we’re doing when it comes to Medicaid: it’s grown 50 percent in five years. It’s about to take over Medicare,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said on ABC’s “This Week. “What we’ve done is we limited the growth of Medicaid to 6 percent for two years. After that, 4 percent growth. We haven’t cut Medicaid. We’ve reduced the growth.”
Senate Republicans late Saturday voted to begin debate on the bill, which also extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts, and increases border security and military funding.
Medicaid is the joint state and federal health insurance program for low-income Americans. Under the proposed Medicaid provisions, individuals between the ages of 19 and 64 would be required to work at least 80 hours per month to be eligible for coverage.
Republicans faced a pair of defections. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky opposed a provision that paves the way for the nation’s borrowing limit to increase $5 trillion. And Sen. Tom Tillis said the “significant change to Medicaid … would be devastating to North Carolina.”
Mr. Tillis announced Sunday he was not seeking reelection after Mr. Trump hammered his decision not to support the “big beautiful bill.”
A new estimate from the Congressional Budget Office said the proposal would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over ten years, and 11.8 million more Americans would be uninsured by 2034.
The findings provided more fodder for Democrats, who are unified in their opposition to the plan.
Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer is forcing the Senate clerks to read the proposal aloud on the floor before each party is given up to ten hours to debate it, likely pushing major votes into Monday.
Democrats echoed Mr. Tillis’ concerns across the television talk shows on Sunday, saying Republicans are stripping health care and nutrition assistance programs away from Americans to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest of Americans.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia said the proposal will “kick about 16 million Americans off of health care.”
“That comes through cuts in Medicaid,” Mr. Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “And those folks who then buy health insurance through what’s called the marketplace, they’re going to have their rates go up $800, $900 a month.”
“All this cutback on health care, to provide the wealthiest in our country a disproportionate share of tax cuts, that just doesn’t seem fair,” he said.
Sen. Katie Britt, Alabama Republican, said the bill seeks to strengthen Medicaid over the long haul, and “absolutely” will not hurt recipients of Medicaid, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs, or SNAP, who deserve them.
“What you’re talking about is able-bodied, working-aged Americans without dependents at home, having them work, train, volunteer in some capacity 20 hours a week in order to receive those government benefits,” Ms. Britt said.
“We’re trying to make structural reforms that make these programs stronger and make them be able to actually last and be there for the people who need that assistance,” she said. “We want them to be safety nets, not hammocks that people stay in.”
