'People are dying': Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blames Elon Musk's cuts for fentanyl deaths

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Coretz (D-NY) suggested that DOGE chief Elon Musk was responsible for fentanyl deaths after he "ordered" Republicans to cut Medicaid expansion from a recent funding bill.

During a House Health Subcommittee Hearing on Thursday, Ocasio-Coretz highlighted the importance of Medicaid in saving lives threatened by fentanyl addiction and overdoses.

"And one thing that I thought was very significant in your testimony is you naming the health care agencies that are responsible for helping reduce fentanyl and fentanyl use," the lawmaker told Georgetown University Professor Regina LaBelle. "And one of the things that you named was not just the CDC, the NIH, but you also named Medicaid."

"Would it be fair to say that Medicaid is actually one of the most important and strongest protections we have in the opioid crisis in the United States?" she asked.

"Yes, it treats a lot of people with addiction who would not otherwise be able to receive care," the witness agreed. "I think it's safe to say that if Medicaid were significantly reduced, more people would die of overdoses."

Ocasio-Coretz blamed Musk for convincing Republicans to strip Medicaid funding from a recent government funding bill.

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"And I think one of the things that is important for us to see here is in those threats to Medicaid, just last month in our continuing resolution, we had bipartisan efforts to address fentanyl, including expansion of Medicaid to address the fentanyl crisis treatment that the Republican majority stripped on orders of Elon Musk," she said. "People are dying because of this."

"And we have to make sure that we are protecting our Medicaid system, not cutting it, because cuts to Medicaid are going to expand our fentanyl crisis."

Watch the video below from the House Health Subcommittee or click the link.