House Republicans have given up on a helping hand with fraud from President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance, according to a new report.
Congressional GOP lawmakers told Politico Thursday that they've grown deeply skeptical that Vance's plans to crack down on alleged abuse of social programs will reach Trump's desk this year — and that could spell trouble for the midterms.
"Republicans who were eager to go home to their districts for August recess and fold significant fraud wins into affordability messaging have little to show for it," Politico reported. "Some now admit they are at a loss for whether there’s any campaign promise on this topic they can make and truly keep."
Months of hearings and meetings with Dr. Mehmet Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator, appear to have come up with few results beyond statements from Republicans that fraud is bad.
According to Politico, it's because they're hoping to sell their fight against fraud to voters.
"Many Republicans believe the fraud issue will have salience with voters amid larger concerns about affordability, since it would ostensibly involve returning lost funds to government health programs," Politico reported.
Rep. Riley Moore (R-WV) told Politico, "I am very much in favor of seeing this in some type of reconciliation package.”
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) said Wednesday his fellow Republicans didn't “have the guts” to follow through and now would only happen if Vance or Trump, “picks up the phone and calls” members.
Republicans' dying hopes that Trump will help them combat fraud come as the president faces mounting scrutiny tied to it.
A former prosecutor raised the alarm Wednesday that an Indian billionaire who publicly praises Trump may have offered the Justice Department a $10 billion investment in exchange for dropping criminal fraud charges against him.
Critics say the appointment of Attorney General Todd Blanche will help Trump dodge a $100 million tax fraud fine the IRS has been trying to collect from him for over a decade.
And Trump Media was slapped with a lawsuit Wednesday challenging its six-figure fees for early notifications to his Truth Social posts, which Freedom of the Press chief of advocacy Seth Stern described as "brazen grift."
