Behind Closed Doors the Fight to Gut Medicaid has Begun

Washington D.C. - Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a closed-door meeting on Monday that lasted long into the night. Their issue; the coming cuts to Medicaid. Republicans plan to slash up to $880 billion from the program, but some of their own members are having second thoughts.

They know the cuts could be devastating to the communities they represent, with millions of Americans potentially losing their health insurance. Even worse in the Republicans’ eyes– the cuts could cause them to lose their reelections in the midterms.

Republicans are treading a fine line. They need to strip funding from Medicaid in order to pay for the tax breaks Trump wants to give to billionaires and their fellow top earners, but doing so could spell doom for their political careers. It’d be easy if they had any courage whatsoever. Then standing up to Trump wouldn’t be an issue. But they don’t, so the dilemma remains.

“Which will they choose: stand up for their own constituents and incur Trump’s wrath, or cave to the leader and take health coverage away from millions of people? Their decision will tell us whether they are truly representing the people, or if they are in it for themselves,” said IDP Chair Rita Hart.