The House Republican budget bill cuts Medicaid, and some deficit hawks want further cuts. But on Tuesday, President Donald Trump told them in no uncertain terms that they had better not do it.
Trump was on Capitol Hill to meet with the caucus after the GOP held legislative votes and meetings under the cloak of darkness to discuss controversial budget cuts.
Senior White House Correspondent Gabe Gutierrez said that Trump heaped praise on Speaker Mike Johnson for jockeying the legislation he praised as his “big beautiful bill.”
“He’s right now speaking to the Republican conference behind closed doors. We’re just getting some video of the ovation that he got as he entered the room,” reported NBC News’ senior White House correspondent Gab Gutierrez. “And the president is also saying that he does not expect there to be any meaningful cuts to Medicaid in this one big, beautiful bill that he’s touting.
“He’s saying that the goal is to focus on just waste, fraud, and abuse. But that might not sit well with some hard-line conservatives who do want to see structural reforms to Medicaid in order to bring down the deficit.”
Writing for Rolling Stone on Monday, Andrew Perez and Asawin Suebsaeng said, “Others in the MAGA elite believe the Republicans on Capitol Hill are intentionally leading the party in a politically ‘suicidal’ direction’ over the cuts.”
NBC News’ chief Capitol Hill correspondent Ryan Nobles said that his two colleagues in the room overheard Trump cursing at the members over Medicaid. His colleagues said, “Trump was very clear” when it came to Medicaid.
“He’s also telling the hardliners on the deficit reductions who want to see those deep Medicaid cuts not to mess with Medicaid. He actually used the ‘F-word’ when talking about Medicaid. He said, don’t F with Medicaid. Only focus on fraud and abuse,” reported Nobles.
It’s unclear if the bill, as it stands, has the support to pass in the U.S. Senate, but several Republican Senators have urged not to make drastic cuts to the program. Trump didn’t say whether or not he would veto the budget bill if there were large cuts in Medicaid.
Trump went on to say that he expects the full caucus to support the bill. When asked about the few who might not, Trump said the “one or two holdouts” who are “grandstanders” will be lumped in with the Democrats who oppose the bill.