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REPUBLICANS TOLD TO ‘STOP COWERING’ FROM VOTERS AS THEY BACK
UNPOPULAR MEDICAID CUTS  
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Jake Johnson
February 26, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ "We expect every Republican who voted for the budget resolution to
hold a town hall during recess on what parts of Medicaid and SNAP they
want to cut," said the national director of the Working Families
Party. _

Rep. Rich McCormick was booed lustily at a town hall last Thursday in
his deep red Georgia district when he tried to dismiss concerns about
Trump's flagrant abuses of power.,

 

In the wake of their passage
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Tuesday of a budget resolution that sets the stage for massive cuts to
Medicaid and other key programs, House Republicans who supported the
measure with near unanimity faced calls to explain their vote to
constituents who will be directly harmed
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the proposed cuts become law.

"We expect every Republican who voted for the budget resolution to
hold a town hall during recess on what parts of Medicaid and SNAP they
want to cut," Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working
Families Party, said in a statement following Tuesday's vote.

"If you stand behind this plan," Mitchell added, "stop cowering from
your constituents."

In recent days, GOP lawmakers have faced angry audiences at town halls
in their home districts as voters—including Republican constituents
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outrage over President Donald Trump
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lawless assault on federal agencies and the party's broader
legislative agenda, which includes destructive attacks on key
programs
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help finance trillions of dollars in tax breaks largely for the rich.

The intensifying constituent wrath
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Republicans "weary and wary of in-person town hall meetings," _NBC
News_reported
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Citing an unnamed GOP aide, the outlet reported that "House Republican
leaders are urging lawmakers to stop engaging in" town halls
altogether.

In response to _NBC_'s story, Indivisible co-executive director Ezra
Levin noted
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"there were like eight GOP town halls last week in the entire
country."

"Ninety-five percent of GOP members were already hiding from
constituents," Levin wrote on social media. "The fact that they think
EIGHT is too many is a real sign of how scared they are of
constituents and owning this agenda."

Survey data indicates that the deep spending cuts congressional
Republicans are pursuing are extremely unpopular, including with their
own base. One poll
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earlier this week found that 71% of Trump voters oppose Medicaid cuts
and 60% oppose cuts to federal nutrition assistance.

Under the budget resolution that House Republicans passed late
Tuesday, the committees that oversee Medicaid and SNAP are instructed
to find over $1 trillion in combined cuts—a clear indication that
the two programs are in the party's crosshairs, despite GOP leaders'
claims to the contrary
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"This bill doesn't even mention the word Medicaid a single time,"
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) told
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Tuesday.

But as _The New York Times_observed
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the resolution's instructions to the House Energy and Commerce
Committee—which has jurisdiction over Medicaid—to slash $880
billion in spending over the next decade leaves Republicans with few
options other than large cuts to the program that provides healthcare
to more than 70 million low-income Americans, including children.

"If Republicans want to avoid major cuts to Medicaid, the largest pot
of available money is in the other big government health insurance
program: Medicare," the _Times_ observed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) claimed
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that Republicans are only targeting "fraud, waste, and abuse" in
Medicaid—a statement that one expert called
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smokescreen for the tired, harmful playbook to gut the Medicaid
program that was tried and failed in 2017 as part of the highly
unpopular effort to repeal" the Affordable Care Act.

"House Republican leaders have not really moved on," Edwin Park, a
research professor at the Georgetown University McCourt School of
Public Policy's Center for Children and Families, wrote earlier this
week. "Today, they are still pursuing the same kind of draconian
Medicaid cuts that would take away coverage and access from tens of
millions of low-income children, parents, pregnant women, people with
disabilities, seniors, and other adults."

Shortly after Tuesday's vote, Protect Our Care announced
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new flurry of ads targeting Republicans in competitive districts who
backed the budget resolution, which still must be approved by the
GOP-controlled U.S. Senate before the party can begin crafting its
filibuster-proof reconciliation package
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The first round of ads, according to Protect Our Care, is aimed at
Reps. David Valadao (R-Calif.), Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), Young Kim
(R-Calif.), Dan Newhouse (R-Wash.), David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), Ryan
Mackenzie (R-Pa.), and Scott Perry (R-Pa.).

"Instead of standing up for their constituents' health, Republicans
fell in line to vote in favor of ripping away healthcare from millions
of Americans—all so they can give a tax break to billionaires and
big corporations," said Leslie Dach, the chair of Protect Our Care.
"Medicaid is popular across the board with voters, no matter where
they live or who they voted for."

"By ignoring the impact of these cuts on their constituents, every
House Republican who voted for this horrific budget is playing a
dangerous game," Dach added. "If Republicans proceed with these cuts,
we will hold them accountable."

_Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Protests against Republicans
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* Town Halls
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* budget cuts
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* Medicaid
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