() Congressman Mark Harris, R-N.C., says President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” needs to make maximum cuts in Medicaid, for that program’s own benefit.
“We’ve got to be more aggressive and serious about what we’re doing,” Harris tells Blake Burman on “The Hill.”
“We wanted to see $1.5 to $2 trillion in cuts and it appears that we’re going to get there,” he said. “I’m hopeful, but obviously I think that as we are moving forward, we really need to make sure that we’re able to get the maximum that we can get in this bill.”
Trump’s “big, beautiful budget bill” faces three major tests on Capitol Hill as a number of House committees will try to iron out the details of a package that includes massive tax cuts and sweeping changes to programs including Medicaid and food stamps.
On Tuesday, specifics of this bill are to be written and edited in real time in three House committees: the Energy and Commerce Committee, which deals with Medicaid; the Ways and Means Committee, which is the tax committee; and the Agriculture Committee, which is going to be working on specifics relating to food assistance programs.
The bill would involve $4.5 to $5 trillion in tax cuts, $1.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years and increased spending on border security and national defense.
Harris blamed the expansion of the Affordable Care Act as one of reasons for a “spending mess thus far.”
The lawmaker said he supports Medicaid and wants to continue to see it flourish, but that spending has to come down for that to happen.
“We want to preserve Medicaid, and if we don’t take care of it for who it was intended for, then we’re going to lose it completely, because it’s not sustainable. We’re headed toward a $1 trillion cost for the program,” he said.
