House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was reamed on social media by Rep. Becca Balint (D-VT) for his claim that he actually strengthened Medicaid by making deep cuts to it.
Balint was reacting to an interview Johnson sat for on "Meet The Press" Sunday, during which he was asked by Kristen Welker about a bill by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) to repeal some of the Medicaid cuts in Trump's tax cut megabill. "Why would Josh Hawley introduce a bill to roll back cuts in Medicaid if there are not cuts in Medicaid? He says the people in his state are going to suffer."
"I will tell you that the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' safeguards the program," replied Johnson.
Balint laid into the speaker on X over these comments.
"The Speaker is spewing blatant lies about his spending bill," wrote Balint. "He is lying to the American people, I suspect he is lying to his caucus, I guess he's even lying to himself. YES, the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' cuts Medicaid significantly. Read it for yourself."
The bill, which was signed into law by President Donald Trump at the beginning of the month following months of turmoil, controversy, and infighting, partially pays for massive new tax cuts for the wealthy by cutting around $1 trillion from Medicaid. The bill introduces draconian new work requirements that could throw millions of people off their insurance even if they have jobs, and restricts how much states can collect from the federal government as part of provider tax funds-matching, a move that hospital executives warn could devastate rural providers in particular.
GOP lawmakers tried to lessen the blow of that second provision by adding a $50 billion bailout fund for rural hospitals, but as the conservative Washington Examiner noted, this bailout doesn't actually require the funding to be spent on rural hospitals.
