Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) told his GOP colleagues on Tuesday that they should stop worrying so much about the rising tide of constituents protesting the planned Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" on tax cuts for the wealthy.
The speech came during a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, reported by Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio.
"Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) warned GOP senators during closed-door mtg that their Medicaid provider tax framework will cost Republicans seats in 2026, comparing it to their 'Obamacare' — a reference to Dem losses due to rocky rollout," wrote Desiderio.
Tillis, one of the holdouts on the Medicaid cuts, got into an argument with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) "over the provider tax language."
"Tillis said Senate should use House framework. Thune defended Senate approach as key component of spending cuts target. But Tillis, Moran, Hawley, Collins, others still oppose it," Desiderio continued.
After that, Desiderio noted, McConnell, who previously served as GOP Senate leader himself, "gave a short speech saying 'failure is not an option' and added: 'I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid. But they’ll get over it.'"
The House-passed version of the tax cut bill already cut $600 billion from Medicaid, largely by requiring states attach draconian work requirements to enrollment in the program that could deny care to millions of people, including some who are working.
The Senate GOP, however, want to cut Medicaid even further. Their version sharply caps the rates at which state governments can tax health care providers, which is a common source of revenue for Medicaid and increases the federal government's funding match.
Such a change to the formula would sharply decrease how much money states can raise for the program, which would particularly devastate rural hospitals and force states to cut many more people from the program. Tillis has been one of the biggest opponents of this change, saying that North Carolina would be hit hard by these cuts and that as a former speaker of the North Carolina General Assembly, "I just don't know how my current speaker is going to manage it."