Exclusive: House Energy Commerce Committee Chairman accuses Democrats of lying about the president Donald Trump’s “A big and beautiful bill.”
R-Ky. Brett Guthrie, chairman of the group, told Fox News Digital that he believed Democrats had been running a “terror campaign that scares Americans” since Republicans began debating the budget settlement process.
“Now, Democrats are pedaling false reports that include policies that aren’t even in the bill,” Guthrie said.
“This bill will refocus Medicaid on mothers, children, people with disabilities and seniors, not illegal immigrants or capable adults who have chosen not to work.”
House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Brett Guthrie has accused Democrats of fear in Medicaid. (Getty Images)
The Kentucky Republican specifically mentioned his panel section of Trump’s bill, but the text Released late on a Sunday night.
The Energy and Commerce Commission, which has a wide range of jurisdiction, including federal health programs, communications and energy, has been tasked with finding spending cuts of at least $880 billion to pay other priorities in the bill.
This is the largest share of the 11 committees involved in the settlement process. Some of them have been provided with additional funding to enact Trump’s priorities on tax cuts, defense, immigration and borders.
However, the Non-Participant Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said Monday that the law is likely to achieve even more savings than the $880 billion benchmark.
Guthrie himself told Republicans on Sunday night over a lawmaker-only call that the committee had discovered a “north” of savings, sources told Fox News Digital.
Democrats quickly seized the law as what they saw as smoking guns in the Republican plan to cut Medicaid.
However, details released Sunday night seem to indicate that House GOP leaders have left, leaving far more serious cuts to low-income healthcare programs pushed by conservative lawmakers.
Ranking member Rep. Frank Palone accused Republicans of trying to gut Medicaid. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The law submits new 80-hour work requirements per month to certain healthy adults receiving Medicaid, ages 19 to 64.
They will also place guardrails in states that will spend money on expanding Medicaid populations. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has allowed states to expand Medicaid coverage to adults who account for up to 138% of poverty levels.
More specifically, states that provide Medicaid compensation for illegal immigrants can reduce federal Medicaid refund dollars and increase their costs to the state itself.
The bill also requires that eligibility checks be performed every six months in states where Medicaid populations have expanded to ensure that the system is not abused.
The state’s Medicaid plan will be affected by a moratorium on new state provider taxes, but will freeze current tax rates. State provider taxes are state-charged fees for healthcare providers, which help these states increase their federal funds for Medicaid.
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New Jersey Rep. Frank Paron, the committee’s top Democrat, has released the CBO forecast requested by his own party, which stated that at least 13.7 million people will lose health insurance based on the Republican draft Medicaid proposal.
“To be clear, Republican leaders released this bill under the evening cover because they didn’t want people to know what their true intentions were,” Palone said.
“This cuts into bones rather than trimming fat around the edge. The overwhelming majority of the bill’s savings will come from stealing health care from millions of Americans. Nowhere on the bill is cutting “waste, fraud, abuse.”
Guthrie has rejected the calculations in the Democrats’ press release.
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“It’s reckless for my colleague on the other side of the aisle to artificially claim high numbers on suspicion of reporting, and claim that they could score political points for fear of Monger,” he told Fox News Digital.
“This settlement is a victory for Americans in all parts of the country, and it is embarrassing that Democrats are intentionally and reflectively opposed to each other in order to strengthen their programs.”
Republicans are expected to move forward with the energy and commercial portion of the bill Tuesday afternoon. Once passed through the committee, it will be added to the final bill. This is speaker microphone Johnson, R-La. I want to pass House until Memorial Day.
