House Republicans are setting up a repeat of "an incredibly painful exercise" by inviting back to Capitol Hill the chief architect of the most politically toxic portions of President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."
The influential Republican Study Committee has asked Brian Blase, the president of the Paragon Health Institute who spearheaded the push for deep Medicaid spending cuts, to brief congressional aides Thursday as they plot out a possible second reconciliation package, which panelists on "CNN This Morning" agreed could tank their chances in next year's midterm elections.
"I think this is a sign of the Republican arrogance in Washington," said Democratic strategist Antjuan Seawright, "and, quite frankly, if they believe so much in the 'big ugly bill' and the depth and the width and the harm that it's going to do to America, they would not have delayed the impact or the implementation of it."
"Keep in mind, most of America may not feel some of these things until after the '26 midterms," Seawright added, "but we know from polling, we know from data, and we know from just experience from town halls that the Medicaid and the SNAP pieces are two of the most pivotal pieces to those bills, and once America starts to feel them in an authentic way, they will realize this does not just impact Democrats or Republicans or anyone else – it impacts everyone."
House Republicans are considering further slashing Medicaid and possible cuts to Medicare funding, but Politico's Rachael Bade cast doubt on their ability to pass another sprawling domestic policy bill.
"Yeah, this isn't going to happen, and I'm going to tell you why for two, there are two reasons," said Bade, the website's senior Washington correspondent. "One is the midterms are now closer than ever to sort of becoming real. I mean, this was an incredibly painful exercise for frontline Republican members, I mean, regardless of some of the reporting in here. Yes, Speaker [Mike] Johnson, having these conversations, the group that is inviting this guy in to talk about more Medicaid cuts, he's going to what's known as the Republican Study Committee. This is a group of the most conservative members in the House. They might be on board with this, but their colleagues are not in these frontline districts, and with the midterms coming, it's just not going to happen. They're not going to get the votes."
Trump used his bully pulpit to push skittish Republicans over the finish line during the last negotiation, but Bade doesn't see him taking such an active role if this package comes together.
"These guys are worried about their election, but also one more thing I want to mention," Bade said. "We're they're done with the tax cut portion of this. I mean, the reason why Republicans united around this and ultimately got on board and passed it is because there was this deadline and taxes would go up on Americans, and that is the last thing Republicans wanted. That is the sole reason why this bill passed, and they won't have that sort of incentive to unify on this."
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