FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, MARCH 6, 2025
CONTACT: press@opportunitywisconsin.org
ICYMI: Nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirms GOP budget resolution will force Medicaid or Medicare cuts despite Reps. Van Orden and Steil’s claims that programs won’t be cut
Last week Congressmen Van Orden and Steil voted to green-light cuts to key programs that their constituents depend on
MADISON, Wis. – In case you missed it, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the budget resolution passed by House Republicans last week will force cuts to Medicaid or Medicare in order to pay for more tax handouts for corporations and billionaires.
Congressmen Derrick Van Orden and Bryan Steil both voted for this budget resolution, despite more than 140,000 Wisconsinites in each district relying on Medicaid coverage. Both Steil and Van Orden falsely claimed last week that Medicaid would not be cut under the plan, a claim which has now been debunked by the CBO’s report.
“There were plenty of warnings ahead of last week’s vote that this budget resolution would force steep cuts to Medicaid and other critical programs that help Wisconsin families, yet Congressmen Bryan Steil and Derrick Van Orden still voted for it,” said Opportunity Wisconsin Program Director Megahn Roh. “Now, we have proof that the Medicaid cuts in Republicans’ plan are real, and our members of Congress need to start fighting back. This budget plan will cut programs and raise costs on working families, all to give more tax breaks to those at the very top. It’s not too late for Steil and Van Orden to do the right thing and reverse course.”
Washington Post: GOP must cut Medicaid or Medicare to achieve budget goals, CBO finds
[3/5/25, By Jacob Bogage]
Republicans in Congress cannot reach their goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending over the next 10 years for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” on taxes and immigration unless they cut Medicaid or Medicare benefits, lawmakers’ nonpartisan bookkeeper reported Wednesday.
Trump and the GOP are seeking to extend provisions of the president’s 2017 tax cut law — which would cost nearly $5 trillion — while also pushing hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on border security, mass deportation campaigns and national defense investments
But the House GOP’s budget, which passed last week in a hairline vote, asks the committee responsible for federal health-care spending to find at least $880 billion in savings over 10 years. And the Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that reducing costs that much won’t be possible without cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
But eliminating fraud and adding new work requirements will probably fall well short of the GOP’s budget goals, according to the programs’ financial reports and nonpartisan projections. That has provoked anxiety among some lawmakers who represent large numbers of people who rely on Medicaid that cuts to the program that are on the horizon.
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