Now The Real Battle Over Trump's Budget Begins
Simon Rosenberg
Morning all. While we did not win the budget vote last night our work is making a difference. Republicans are now telling reporters that the President really doesn’t want to cut Medicaid. For real. From Politico Playbook this morning:
The Trump angle: Though he leaned in to try to move at least two GOP holdouts to the “yes” column yesterday, President Trump has also indicated to other GOP lawmakers that he has reservations about parts of the House budget and, I’m told, would like to see changes.
What changes? This week, POTUS expressed reservations to some lawmakers about potential cuts to Medicaid, which while not specified in the budget, are expected given that the document calls for the Energy and Commerce Committee to identify more than $800 billion in reductions. While Speaker Mike Johnson has argued that those cuts would come from program “fraud,” many are skeptical the party can reach those kinds of savings without impacting constituents.
View from one Trump ally: “He absolutely is depending on [the resolution] to change in the Senate,” one GOP lawmaker told me last night of Trump. “He does not want to cut Medicaid.”
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