Republicans want to slash at least $1.5 dollars in spending over a decade to pay for trillions in tax cuts, as they increase funding for select sectors. One stumbling block could be the latest report from the CBO, which showed budget goals set by Republicans can't be met without cutting Medicaid — a program some have committed not to touch.
Rep. Hal Rogers said in a statement that Congress must protect programs like Medicaid. Meanwhile, 6th District Congressman Andy Barr has stressed the need to get more able-bodied adult Medicaid recipients off the roles and into jobs. He's also cast cutting the debt as a moral issue for generations to come.
"We need reconciliation to usher in, yes, fiscal discipline, yes, spending cuts, but also economic growth," he told Semafor. "And that's why we need to extend the tax cuts... because we need to grow this economy so fast, faster than we ever have before in American history, so that what we owe starts to shrink relative to the overall economy."
But Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has said cutting the joint federal and state program that helps cover medical costs for low income Americans would "devastate rural health care." The state's lone Democrat on Capitol Hill, Congressman Morgan McGarvey, has been sounding the alarm since the potential cut surfaced.
"440,000 Kentuckians got health insurance for the first time because of the expansion of Medicaid. That's now all at risk. Republicans want to rip this coverage away so that ultra wealthy can get even richer," he said in February.
Should the House proposal succeed, a Kentucky congressman — Rep. Brett Guthrie — would chair the committee in charge of cutting $880 billion.