Exclusive: House Republicans debunk Medicaid misconceptions as reconciliation talks resume



With lawmakers back on the Hill, reconciliation talks are back in full force — and so are their critics.

Republicans have repeatedly emphasized the importance of spending cuts, many of which they are looking to accomplish in the reconciliation process. At the same time, Democrats are drumming up false narratives to try to derail reconciliation, but House Republicans are not having it.

In a sit-down interview obtained exclusively by Blaze News, Republican Reps. Brandon Gill of Texas, Beth Van Duyne of Texas, and Erin Houchin of Indiana debunked the Democrat-led misconceptions on Medicaid and spending cuts.

'There is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that's just not true.'

Currently, House committees are combing through the budget recommendations outlined in reconciliation in order to identify appropriate spending cuts.

"They were each given instructions of how much they were expected to cut, but that was a floor, not a ceiling," Van Duyne said. "We wanted to make sure that as part of reconciliation, if we gave them a number and they didn't hit it, basically the entire bill is null and void, so we gave them a floor."

Houchin, who sits on the Energy and Commerce Committee, said they were tasked with finding $880 billion in cuts. Although many critics have claimed that these cuts will come right out of Medicaid programs, Houchin insists that is not the case.

"It's probably the biggest piece of reconciliation in terms of spending reductions, finding savings," Houchin said. "But the $880 billion, there is a misconception that 100% of that has to come out of Medicaid, and that's just not true."

"We're finding savings in our energy sector," Houchin added. "We're finding savings in other sections of code that aren't in the health care sector. And so we are going to be working diligently again to cut waste, fraud, and abuse, to find savings, and to protect these programs for the very most vulnerable people."

Houchin also pointed out that cuts made to Medicaid would work to uproot fraud taking place within the system.

'Let's put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people.'

"Right now, we have illegal immigrants that are accepting benefits, that are on benefits, even though they're not supposed to be people that don't even live in the country here, that are taking away from the health care of people who really do need it," Houchin said. "Low-income, pregnant moms, the disabled, seniors, and children."

Gill reiterated that no matter how much Democrats try to dig their heels in, President Donald Trump was elected to fulfill his campaign promises, like cutting wasteful spending, and it's Congress' job to codify these promises.

"They see all the great things that President Trump is doing every single day, a new executive order, sometimes three or four or five every day," Gill said. "They want to see us codify those into law, which we can do via reconciliation, which, of course, is privileged in the Senate. So we don't need to work with Democrats there, which is a huge plus."

Republicans need a simple majority to get reconciliation through the Senate. Because of their 53-seat majority, Republicans are confident they will be able to do just that.

"Let's put forward policies that promote American citizens, that put American citizens first and prioritize our people," Gill said.

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The underlying wins in Trump's first GDP report



The Department of Commerce released the first GDP report of President Donald Trump's second term on Wednesday, sending critics into a frenzy.

The legacy media's coverage of the report reiterates the same claim: The economy "shrank." But between the lines, the report paints a different, more promising picture.

On its face, the report shows that the economy contracted at a 0.3% rate in the first quarter as a result of the ongoing trade war and tariff uncertainty. Despite this, former Vice Chair of the Federal Reserve Richard Clarida argued that this figure was "distorted" and predicted it would be revised upward.

'It's no surprise the leftovers of Biden's economic disaster have been a drag on economic growth, but the underlying numbers tell the real story of the strong momentum President Trump is delivering.'

"Not really much of a surprise," Clarida said. "I do think the Q1 numbers were probably distorted by that huge surge in imports to front-run the tariffs, and I think could be revised up slightly. So the final number may be closer to zero."

"I do think probably that the Fed will probably try to look through this number because of those distortions. ... Maybe the headline number is a bit misleading this time," Clarida added.

As Clarida pointed out, these distortions are overshadowing key indicators that would suggest the economy is actually building momentum.

For example, consumer spending outpaced government spending by 3.2 percentage points, which has been the strongest figure since the Q2 report back in 2022. Consumer spending is a strong indicator of economic health that can lead to several positive outcomes like GDP growth, increasing demand, and job creation.

The report found that inflation has also halted, with the PCE price index showing zero increase in costs from February to March. This is a promising figure compared to the 0.3% increase in costs in January.

"It's no surprise the leftovers of Biden's economic disaster have been a drag on economic growth, but the underlying numbers tell the real story of the strong momentum President Trump is delivering," press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Wednesday.

While the GDP has contracted overall, the core GDP grew a robust 3%, which the administration said "signals strong underlying economic momentum." Gross domestic investment also soared 22% in the first quarter, which was the highest in four years.

"Robust core GDP, the highest gross domestic investment in four years, job growth, and trillions of dollars in new investments secured by President Trump are fueling an economic boom and setting the stage for unprecedented growth as President Trump ushers in the new golden age," Leavitt said.

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