President Joe Biden painted congressional Republicans as seeking deep cuts to health-care coverage and prescription drug benefits, as he sought to ratchet up pressure on GOP leaders to outline the spending reductions they’ll pursue in negotiations over raising the federal debt ceiling.
(Bloomberg) — President Joe Biden painted congressional Republicans as seeking deep cuts to health-care coverage and prescription drug benefits, as he sought to ratchet up pressure on GOP leaders to outline the spending reductions they’ll pursue in negotiations over raising the federal debt ceiling.
“In Congress, they want to eliminate a lot of health care coverage, those MAGA Republicans, increase costs for millions of Americans to make deep cuts in programs that families and seniors depend on,” Biden said Tuesday in Virginia Beach, Virginia, using a reference to former President Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan.
The White House has sought an edge in the upcoming spending battle by demanding Republicans outline what government funding they want to reduce or eliminate, wagering that cuts would inevitably hit programs favored by the public.
“If they say they want to cut the deficit, but their plans actually would explode the deficit, how are they going to make the numbers add up? What are they going to cut?,” Biden said.
House Republicans have insisted their proposed cuts wouldn’t touch Social Security and Medicare – two entitlement programs that share broad bipartisan support. But they’ve resisted outlining specifics.
“Maybe they found religion on Social Security and Medicare. I sure hope so, all kidding aside. But I’ll believe it when I see it,” Biden said.
Biden is scheduled March 9 to unveil his own budget proposal, which is expected to offset expanded social safety net programs with increased taxes on the nation’s wealthiest.
The president seized on reports congressional Republicans are consulting with Russ Vought, who ran Trump’s budget office, to develop their negotiating strategy. Vought has advocated trillions of dollars in cuts to federal agencies, anti-poverty programs, and healthcare subsidies in lieu of cuts to popular entitlements.
The president said Vought “has a plan to slash over $2 trillion for Medicaid.”
“He wants to end Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and then additional deep cuts that could lead to nearly 70 million people losing critical services. Most of them are seniors, people with disabilities and children,” Biden said.
In his Virginia speech, Biden championed healthcare subsidies passed during his administration that cut costs for Americans purchasing coverage under the Affordable Care Act by an annual average of $800 per person.
“For millions of Americans, healthcare hangs in the balance. Will they continue to fight to cut the Affordable Care Act to make health insurance more expensive for millions of Americans?,” he said.
Polls show Americans remain divided on how they want lawmakers to pursue a deal. While half of Americans surveyed by NPR News earlier this month said they supported cutting programs and services, 46% said they preferred to see taxes raised.
–With assistance from Josh Wingrove.
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