WASHINGTON — Protestors lined the halls and filled a hearing room at the Capitol Tuesday, arguing against Republicans’ proposed plan for Medicaid cuts to pay for President Donald Trump’s budget bill.
House Republicans are moving forward with legislation aimed at adding working requirements to Medicaid, requiring more eligibility checks and freezing provider taxes used to pay states’ share of Medicaid funding.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, began its budget markup Tuesday afternoon with demonstrators packed into the room. One protester interrupted U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer’s opening statement, shouting “you will kill me” referring to the proposed Medicaid cuts. The protester was removed from the hearing room.
“Many of the people who’ve spoken out here and had to be removed, they’re not going to lose their Medicaid,” Palmer, R-Birmingham, said.
“We’ve all got family members, friends, we’ve got people in our districts, we all know these stories, people that are depending on Medicaid, and you will not lose your Medicaid,” Palmer said.
Palmer and Republicans insist the changes they plan to make to the program are targeted at “waste, fraud and abuse” within the system.
During opening statements, Energy and Commerce Democrats held up pictures of people in their district who rely on Medicaid to highlight their opposition to the proposed cuts. Democrats highlighted that 8.6 million Americans could lose health care coverage over the next decade under the proposal, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis.
Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee also began its markup of the tax cut portion of Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” Tuesday afternoon.
Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, a member of the Ways and Means Committee, showed a picture of 6-year-old Harper, who lives in her district and has cerebral palsy, during her opening statement. She said Harper relies on Medicaid to be able to live at home with her family.
“These people are scared, and we know that Alabama has a bare bones, minimal Medicaid, ” Sewell told Alabama Daily News. “So to the extent that we’re cutting it, it’s not as if the state’s gonna take up the slack.”
Sewell said she planned to bring up several amendments to the legislation that would be targeted at helping red states, like Alabama, that have not expanded Medicaid.
“Everyone on this committee has a Harper in their district,” Sewell said. “Everyone on this committee represents tens of thousands of Americans who rely on Medicaid to make ends meet. We should be standing up for them instead of ripping the rug out from under them.”
Republicans’ plan for tax breaks in the budget bill includes extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, making tips and overtime tax exempt and boosting the child tax deduction.