Sen. Markwayne Mullin is insisting President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic megabill doesn’t break his promise not to cut Medicaid, even as the Congressional Budget Office estimates 7.8 million people would lose access if it passes.
Instead, Mullin (R-Okla.) told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday, the “Big Beautiful Bill” is eliminating fraud, waste and abuse that Republicans say is rampant in the program.
“What is so hard about having a work requirement there with someone that has no medical conditions and no dependents?” he said on “Meet the Press.” “We don’t pay people in this country to be lazy. We want to give them an opportunity. And when they’re going through a hard time, we want to give them a helping hand. That’s what Medicaid was designed for.”
The Senate GOP voted narrowly to move to a general debate on the package on Saturday. Final passage could come Monday. But one Republican, North Carolina Sen. Thom Tillis, voted against moving the bill forward due to its Medicaid language.
Democrats, too, are looking to seize on the cuts to win back working class voters who have moved toward Trump since his political rise.
Mullin argued that Republicans are seeking to future-proof the program, refocusing Medicaid on what it was “designed for.”
“There’s 35 million people under the poverty line inside the United States,” Mullin told Welker. “And there’s 70 million people that are signed up for Medicaid. You’re going to tell me that there’s not room to cut fraud, waste, and abuse in the program?”
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