“Everything Is On The Table” As Republicans Enter The New Year With A Government Trifecta
Republicans have been eyeing key health programs like Medicare and Medicaid for budget cuts – and now they finally have the power to push them through. For over a decade, top Republican Senators like Rick Scott pushed infamous budget proposals proposing massive cuts to Medicaid and Medicare. Recognizing just how unpopular health care cuts are among the American people, they attempted to distance themselves from radical proposals like Project 2025, but they’ve been saying the quiet part out loud ever since Trump won the election. With a Republican trifecta in charge, “everything is on the table,” from a higher retirement age to new requirements for Medicaid to cut enrollment numbers. Republican Senators are looking for savings wherever they can to pay for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. Don’t just take our word for it:
- Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA): “We’re Going To Look For Savings Wherever We Can, And That Might Include Health Issues.” On Dec. 16, Sen. Grassley told Axios, “I think we’re going to look for savings wherever we can, and that might include health issues. There’s hardly anything except Social Security and Medicare that can’t be on the table.”
- Rep. James Comer (R-KY): “Everything Is On The Table.” On Dec. 12, House Oversight Committee Chair Comer told CNN, “Everything is on the table. Every big expenditure over the past four years is on the table. There’s money in the infrastructure bill. There’s money in Covid bills that haven’t been spent yet. We’re going to look at that. And then you look at improper payments — that’s a big issue — where the government sends money to people fraudulently in Medicare, in Medicaid, where they send money fraudulently in unemployment insurance.”
- Rep. Tom McClintock (R-CA) Called For “A Strict Work Requirement Back In All Of Those Entitlement Programs.” During a Dec. 11 House Budget hearing on the U.S. fiscal crisis, Rep. McClintock asked, “Shouldn’t we put a strict work requirement back in all of those entitlement programs for able-bodied adults?” He added that members “need to do it now.”
- Rep. Mark Alford (R-MO): “We Can Move The Retirement Age Back A Little Bit.” On Dec. 9, Rep. Alford told Fox Business, “We’ve got to right this ship and it’s gonna mean cuts. It’s gonna mean cuts to the 24 percent of the discretionary spending that we have. And it’s also going to mean looking long term at the front end of some programs like Social Security and Medicare – not taking anyone off of what they’ve paid into so far, but there is some waste, abuse, and fraud in Medicare that we can take those numbers back and add to our general coffers in our treasury. And on the front end of Social Security, I think there’s a way, when people are living longer and they’re tiring later, that on the front end we can move the retirement age back a little bit.”
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY): “I’m For Looking At The Entitlements.” On Dec. 6, Sen. Paul told Fox News “I’m for looking at the entitlements, the waste, everything because it’s such an enormous problem that if you put military off the table, you put entitlements off the table, all you have left is 16% of the budget. If you eliminate that, you don’t get anywhere close.”
- Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC): Elon and Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy Are “Going To Put Everything On The Table.” On Dec. 5, Rep. Norman told Fox Business after meeting with Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, “Nothing is sacrosanct. They’re going to put everything on the table” The Fox host reported, “That’s what they told lawmakers. Everything is on the table, and that includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.”
- Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI): “It Doesn’t Have To Be Just The Discretionary Spending. We Can Get At Some Of The Mandatory Spending Too.” On Dec. 5, Rep. Tiffany told Real America’s Voice, “We have to do something about the over-spending in Washington, DC and start to get responsible. And by the way, it doesn’t have to be just the discretionary spending. We can get at some of the mandatory spending also. Food stamps and some of those things, that’s mandatory spending. I think some of the benefits that are paid in regards to work requirements, some of that is under the heading of mandatory spending. We can deal with some of that too.”
- Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX): We Need A “Responsible And Reasonable Work Requirement For Medicaid.” On Nov. 20, Rep. Arrington – who leads the House Budget Committee – told reporters that he favored a “responsible and reasonable work requirement” for Medicaid.
- Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX): “Block Grants Make A Lot Of Sense.” On Nov. 20, Senator Cornyn said of Medicaid, “We ought to look at whether we’re doing it the right way.” He said he supported “block grants,” in which states get lump sums, regardless of how many people sign up for the program. “We can’t just keep doing things the way we’ve been doing them,” Cornyn said. “I’m not advocating for Social Security or Medicare in the absence of a bipartisan consensus because we know that will be a futile effort. There’s a lot of other spending we should consider … We ought to look at whether we’re doing [Medicaid] the right way. Block grants make a lot of sense.”
- Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY) Supported A Per Capita Cap On Medicaid. On Nov. 20, Rep. Guthrie told Axios he is interested in reviving a proposal from the 2017 Affordable Care Act repeal bill that would cap Medicaid spending on each enrollee, known as a “per capita cap” or allotment. “We offered Medicaid reform in reconciliation in the repeal-and-replace package, and it was per capita allotments, which didn’t cut Medicaid but it does limit the growth,” Guthrie said. “I do think it has to be discussed as part of the package [next year],” Guthrie said, adding that he hadn’t yet discussed the idea with leadership.
- Rep. Greg Murphy (R-NC) Said Congress Should Consider Block Granting Medicaid. On Nov. 14, Rep. Murphy, a member of the GOP Doctors Caucus who sits on the Ways and Means Committee, reportedly told Politico that Congress needs to consider block grants for Medicaid.