‘$700 billion? With a b?’ CNN host presses MAGA lawmaker as GOP hunts for Medicaid fraud
CNN’s Kasie Hunt had difficulty swallowing the multi-billion-dollar promise in cuts to Medicaid Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and other House Republicans have vowed to achieve in their DOGE-led cost-cutting spree of the federal government – and she put the MAGA lawmaker’s numbers to the test.
The sobering dose of skepticism unfolded Tuesday as Hunt interviewed Roy ahead of the House’s vote on a continuing resolution to fund the government, which the fiscal conservative made clear he supports. But when it came time to defend the $700 billion that Republicans claim they can identify as “waste, fraud and abuse,” Hunt aggressively pushed back, pressing him over the possibility of the ambitious goal.
“Do you really think there's $700 billion worth of fraud and waste in Medicaid? 700 billion? I mean, it's the cost of the whole thing,” the CNN anchor asked.
Roy tried to explain away how a $1.2 trillion increase from the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline from 2021 to 2025 was a "significant amount," which he said represented “waste, fraud, and abuse.”
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“Significant amounts of that is illegal aliens, significant amounts of that are able bodied citizens as compared to the vulnerable, that's…"
That's when Hunt interjected and seized the opportunity to offer another push back.
“Do you think you can cut $700 billion without touching law-abiding American citizens who are entitled to their benefits under Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid? I mean, do you think that's really possible in these programs? $700 billion? With a B?"
Chip, a member of the House Budget Committee, continued attacking money going “to the wrong people” and “in the wrong amounts.”
“There is plenty of us to be able to go find to find the waste, fraud and abuse and make sure it's going to the right people,” he concluded.
Watch the clip below or at this link: