Republicans cannot reach their budget goal of slashing at least $1.5tn in spending over the next decade to fund Donald Trump’s tax cuts and immigration crackdown without cutting healthcare relied upon by tens of millions of Americans – including seniors and children, according to the non-partisan budget assessor.
House Republicans last week narrowly passed a budget instructing the energy and commerce committee, which is responsible for federal healthcare, to cut spending under its jurisdiction by $880bn – in order to pay for Trump’s tax cuts, mass deportations and defence investments.
The House speaker, Mike Johnson, insists that the spending purge can be achieved by rooting out waste, fraud and tightening eligibility requirements, and that healthcare is safe in Republican hands.
But the numbers do not add up, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday.
The independent in-house agency confirmed that it would be impossible to reduce spending by $880bn without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (Chip). That’s because after excluding Medicare, Medicaid and Chip, the committee oversees only $381bn in spending – much less than the $880bn target – the CBO said.
Trump and his Republican party want to extend the soon-to-expire 2017 tax cut law – which would cost nearly $5tn – while also spending hundreds of billions of dollars on their so-called “America first” agenda. To do so without further increasing the national debt, Republicans are looking to slash spending on existing programs.
Trump has repeatedly said he will not cut social security, Medicare or Medicaid – the country’s principal safety net programs which together accounted for almost half the $6.75tn federal spending in the last fiscal year.
Medicaid covers around 70 million low-income people, or one in five Americans, while Medicare provides health coverage for 66 million seniors over the age of 65. Chip is designed to cover uninsured children in families that don’t qualify for Medicaid.
But the CBO assessment, which was requested by Democratic congressman Frank Pallone, the ranking member of the energy and commerce committee, and Brendan Boyle, ranking member of the budget committee, makes clear that the unprecedented spending cuts will be impossible without dismantling the social safety net programs relied upon by large numbers of Americans in every district – Republican and Democratic – across the country.
“This letter from CBO confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the math doesn’t work without devastating Medicaid cuts,” said Pallone in a statement. “Republicans know their spin is a lie, and the truth is they have no problem taking healthcare away from millions of Americans so that the rich can get richer and pay less in taxes than they already do.”
Cuts to health and social security would be devastating for millions of Americans – and was categorically denied by Trump on the 2024 campaign trail.
The House is expected to vote on a motion on Thursday to censure Democrat Al Green for interrupting Trump’s address to Congress on Tuesday night by shouting: “You have no mandate to cut Medicaid.”
