House Republicans in easily flippable districts are banding together to pressure the GOP leadership to avoid any cuts to Medicaid in the new budget deal currently being hammered out.
According to a report from Politico, apprehensive GOP lawmakers are coalescing around Rep. David Valadao (R-CA) who is leading the pushback against possible cuts to Medicaid that could come back to haunt the entire Republican caucus when the midterms roll around next year.
As Politico's Ben Leonard and Meredith Lee Hill are reporting, a dozen GOP lawmakers signed onto a letter recently protesting the cuts being considered, stating it could cost the party their seats and, therefore, the majority overseen by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
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For his part, Valadao is maintaining a constantly updated text chain with his allies in this Republican Governance Group keeping "at-risk Republican incumbents who fear the political blowback of financing the party-line package with reductions to a safety-net program relied upon by nearly 70 million Americans" in the loop.
According to Rep. Nick LaLota (R-NY), "He’s been clear in his communications: We shouldn’t be throwing people off Medicaid who are designed to be on the program.”
Politico is reporting, "The outcome of the Medicaid debate carries high stakes not just for the Americans who use it for coverage, but for Valadao and his colleagues’ political futures, too. Valadao knows firsthand the consequences of making the wrong move in the health care debate. In 2018, he was part of the wave of House Republicans ousted after their votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would have kicked millions of people off their insurance plans."
“We’re going through this partisan exercise to do what is supposed to be a tax bill, and it’s becoming a health care bill, which is what we’re trying to avoid, on an issue that desperately needs reform to make it better,” he warned.
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