SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
healthcare
Asked About Backing 'Largest Cuts in History' of Medicaid, GOP Rep. Miller-Meeks Has No Comment
"Does it concern you that you only won by 800 votes?" asked the executive director of Social Security Works.
May 20, 2025
Ahead of a "Hands Off Medicaid" rally planned in Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' district in Iowa, the economic justice group Social Security Works on Tuesday wanted to see if the congresswoman had a message for her constituents about the vote she cast in favor of advancing massive cuts to Medicaid.
"Rep. Miller-Meeks, I'm wondering if you have any comment on the healthcare that 67,000 people in your district are going to lose?" asked Alex Lawson, executive director of the group, following the congresswoman down a hallway on Capitol Hill as she made her way to an elevator reserved for lawmakers.
Miller-Meeks sits on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which last week was one of three committees to advance part of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, including more than $700 billion in federal healthcare cuts.
Progressives have focused heavily on Miller-Meeks as Republicans in Congress have grappled with how to secure tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans that would blow a $3.8 trillion hole in the federal deficit. Miller-Meeks, who won her reelection campaign by just 800 votes in 2024, is among the swing district Republicans whom advocates have pressured to reject Medicaid cuts that would harm their constituents.
As Miller-Meeks attempted to ignore Lawson and said she had "no comment," Lawson noted that she previously "lied" to Social Security Works and said she wouldn't support Medicaid cuts.
"But then you actually voted for the largest cuts to Medicaid in the history of the country," he said. "Do you have any comment on that? Do you have any comment on the four hospitals in your district that are going to close because of your vote?"
Finally Lawson asked whether Miller-Meeks has given any thought to how her vote could impact her political future in a district where about 102,500—16%—of her constituents depend on Medicaid or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which would also be slashed under the Republican bill.
"Does it concern you that you only won by 800 votes?" Lawson asked before Miller-Meeks got on the elevator.
Social Security Works urged voters in Iowa's 1st District to join the group Wednesday for its rally in Jasper County, and to ask the congresswoman—who's also a doctor—"why she's cutting $700 billion from Medicaid."
One advocate, Mathew Helman, posed a question to Miller-Meeks on social media: "If you ran for Congress honestly on your actual platform of slashing Medicaid and closing Iowa hospitals, how do you think you'd do?"
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Tells Republicans: 'Don't Fuck Around With Medicaid.' He Should Read Their Bill
"With a floor vote on the horizon, will House Republicans fuck around with Medicaid to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies?" asked one progressive campaigner. "Or will they finally listen?"
May 20, 2025
U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly used a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday to instruct them not to "fuck around with Medicaid" as the party rushes ahead with legislation that proposes the largest Medicaid cuts in American history.
Trump's remarks indicate he's either unaware of the specifics of the "big, beautiful bill" that he has championed or doesn't mind the unprecedented Medicaid cuts that are currently in the text—but doesn't want them to go any further.
Republican hardliners are actively pushing to cut the key healthcare program even more aggressively, including by moving up the start date for work requirements and slashing federal payments to states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
"Don't fuck around with Medicaid," Trump said during the private meeting with House Republicans, Politico reported, citing two unnamed GOP lawmakers.
"Working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
In its current form, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates, the House GOP reconciliation bill would slash Medicaid by more than $600 billion over the next decade and remove at least 10 million people from the program—likely with deadly consequences. (KFF, a health policy research group, provides a detailed summary of the bill's Medicaid provisions here.)
The legislation also includes nearly $4 trillion in tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.
Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the Unrig Our Economy coalition, said in response to Trump's private comments that "working people have been speaking out and urging their members of Congress not to 'fuck around with Medicaid' for months now."
"With a floor vote on the horizon, will House Republicans fuck around with Medicaid to give tax breaks to their billionaire buddies?" Or will they finally listen?" Christian asked. "All eyes are on them this week."
Trump's meeting with House Republicans came hours before the chamber's GOP-controlled rules panel is set to convene for a dead-of-night hearing on the reconciliation package.
The 1 am ET meeting was scheduled shortly after Republicans on the House Budget Committee cut a deal to deepen the legislation's cuts to Medicaid and other programs.
According to a new CBO analysis, the House Republican measure would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by more than a third by 2034.
"This would rip food assistance away from millions of people, including households with children as young as 7 years old," said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at the Center for American Progress.
Keep ReadingShow Less
'What Don't They Want You to Know?' GOP Sets 1 AM Hearing to Advance Disastrous Medicaid Cuts
"They have such contempt for the American people," said Democratic Rep. Jim McGovern.
May 20, 2025
House Republicans are set to take the next step toward passage of their sprawling reconciliation bill at a Wednesday hearing scheduled to begin while most Americans are fast asleep.
The GOP-controlled House Rules Committee will convene at 1 am ET Wednesday morning to consider the legislation and recent changes pushed by Republican hardliners, who are demanding even more aggressive cuts to Medicaid and green energy programs.
Specifically, a faction of far-right Republicans led by Rep. Chip Roy of Texas wants the bill's proposed work requirements for Medicaid recipients to take effect earlier than the originally proposed 2029 start date. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Tuesday that Republicans had settled on "early 2027" as a new start date.
While the House Rules Committee has not responded to reporters' questions about the timing of Wednesday's hearing, critics said it appears to be an attempt to avoid the kinds of protests and public scrutiny that daytime meetings have attracted.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the rules panel, blasted his Republican colleagues over the dead-of-night hearing time, writing on social media that "they have such contempt for the American people."
"If Donald Trump's big beautiful tax break for billionaires is so great... why not pass it in primetime?" McGovern asked. "Why jam it through in the middle of the night? What don't they want you to know?"
Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) added that "if you think you are doing what is right for the American people, you don't consider it in the dead of night."
"This bill doesn't just cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid, and it will cause millions of eligible people in House districts across the country to lose access to the Medicaid benefits they need."
The GOP reconciliation package, a centerpiece of President Donald Trump's legislative agenda, would slash Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance by more than a trillion dollars combined over the next decade—cuts that would help offset the cost of massive tax breaks for rich Americans.
The spending cuts, which would be achieved in part through draconian and ineffective work requirements, would strip healthcare coverage and food aid from millions of Americans and potentially devastate rural hospitals, farmers, and local economies.
"Instead of listening to the millions of Americans clogging their phone lines and showing up at townhalls, or even those in their own party warning against severe cuts to Medicaid, House Republicans are making bigger cuts and terminating people's healthcare coverage even faster," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA.
"This bill doesn't just cut Medicaid, it guts Medicaid, and it will cause millions of eligible people in House districts across the country to lose access to the Medicaid benefits they need," Wright said. "When will we hear from those members?"
Later Wednesday morning, Medicaid recipients from across the country—including districts represented by House Republicans—are set to gather on Capitol Hill to protest the GOP legislation.
"Upon arrival on May 21, they will hold a press conference, demand face-to-face meetings, deliver petitions signed by thousands of constituents urging GOP decisionmakers to change course, and take direct action in order to be heard," the People's Action Institute and Popular Democracy said Tuesday.
"The plan to eviscerate Medicaid and other programs in order to siphon public dollars into the pockets of billionaires who already pay less in taxes than working families is universally unpopular," they added.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular