GOP Senator vows deeper Medicaid cuts in 'second bite at the apple'

GOP Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told Politico on Tuesday that he's received assurances that Republicans will get another chance to cut Medicaid after voting to support President Donald Trump's mega budget bill.

Trump's budget slashed more than $700 billion from Medicaid and imposed work requirements for Medicaid members to receive their benefits starting after the 2026 midterms. Now, Republicans like Johnson are seeking to further slash the Medicaid expansion from when the Democrats expanded under the Affordable Care Act.

“I think I pretty well have a commitment. They’re going to do that,” Johnson told Politico.

The Affordable Care Act has long been a target within conservative circles. During Trump's first term, Republicans attempted to repeal the law altogether, yet failed to do so. Since then, the party has been trying to undo the law bit by bit.

Johnson was one Republican who spoke out against cutting Medicaid in Trump's bill. However, he ended up supporting the bill because of the assurances that Republicans would cut the Affordable Care Act's expansion of Medicaid at a later date.

The cuts were floated by Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL) during the budget reconciliation process, but were left out of the final bill, Politico reported.

“Another reason why I definitely had to vote ‘yes,’ I would have just dealt myself out of being involved in that process. And I wanted to be highly involved in that process,” Johnson told the outlet. “That’s where I gained a fair amount of confidence from the White House, the President, our leadership, that we will have a second bite of the apple.”