WASHINGTON – Early battle lines are formed a piece of the sprawling local policy bill that Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed by a little, with discounts in the spending concerned as a flash point that can determine the mid -period elections 2026.
Democrats accompanied their mission during their bombing of legislation, which is now heading to the Senate led by the Republican Party, as a tax reduction to the wealthy who will be funded by lowering health care, after they have widely promised that they would not reduce Medicaid.
A A recent memo From the Democratic Congress Campaign Committee, it pledges to make the “tax fraud” of the Republican Party and reduce the “disparity of the election session for the year 2026” in its efforts to win the majority of the parliament next year.
DCCC recommends democratic candidates to criticize the Republican law as a Trojan horse designed to expel millions of medicaid – not waste treatment – with a new red strip.
Republicans are trying to frame the battle on their terms. National Committee for Republican Congress Advice to members To promote the draft law as “enhancement medicaid” by reducing the program for those who need it-“not fraudsters, or adults who are able to refuse to work, or illegal immigrants.”
Under the clash is a shaking debate about what is exactly the “Medicaid”.
Republicans insist that they do not cut the benefits directly for low -income and disabled people, so their bill should not be defined as a reduction. Democrats and external critics say it will strip the coverage of millions of people, including those who need the program more than others, who will be subject to cracks if they are not able to meet the new bureaucratic requirements to continue to prove their eligibility.
The largest part of the cost savings will come from strict new rules to maintain Medicaid eligibility, which require adult beneficiaries to prove that they are working or engaging in “community service” for at least 80 hours per month, with limited exceptions that include pregnant women. This rule will be launched at the end of 2026. Other new rules involve verifying addresses, proving the state of legal immigration and repetitive examination of eligibility, once every six months, instead of once a year.
The draft law will impose about $ 700 billion of discounts in medical aid for the current law, according to the Non -party Congress Budget Office, and will be attached to health coverage of about 8.6 million people. (Estimation was based on the beginning of work requirements in 2029, before being transferred on the revised bill, which means that the unlikely uniceded number may be greater.)
However, Republicans are seeking to discuss work requirements, which investigative studies say voters generally support physical adults, and sell the bill as an attempt to re -Medicaid to those who need it more.
“Republicans got the House of Representatives” the House of Representatives “. Lying caught On their vote to tear health care away from millions of people and are now defending to change the topic. Their tax fraud bill is specifically designed to be the largest discount on Medicaid in history, and the Republicans are now stuck in Domloop discussing their number and how people will get health insurance – not if. “
The budget policy of the Senate’s escalating Republicans can push for changes to the draft law. Some have already expressed discomfort with the proposed changes in Medicaid, although they prefer to work on a large scale and do not consider them “discounts”.
President Donald Trump said that he did not want to reduce a maid, but he defended the legislation of the House of Representatives. The Democratic Campaign Committee issued a cinemor a Digital advertisement Last week, the Medicaid Republican policies described it as “destroyed”.
Americans prefer work requirements, but support is soft
accident National survey by KFFNon -party health research group, highlighting the nuances of the case.
In general, the poll found that 62 % of adults in the United States support new legislation “that requires almost all adults to work or search for work in order to obtain health insurance through medicaid” – including 6 out of 10 independents.
But the KFF survey found that support is soft. It decreases to 32 % when the respondents hear the argument that most of the Medicaid recipient are already working or unable to work. When the respondents hear the argument that such new rules will raise administrative costs without significantly affecting the share of the medicaid beneficiaries who work, support decreases to 40 %.
There are other winds of the Republicans.
In general, the KFF poll found that the discounts in the funding of Medicaid said: 82 % of the respondents said they wanted to increase the spending of medical aid or stay in the same way, while only 17 % said they want to decrease. Even among Republican respondents, only 33 % said that medical aid spending should be reduced.
The poll found that 3 out of 4 adults in the United States said the legislation was about reducing government spending, while only a quarter said it was about improving how medicaid works.
However, the Republican Party’s focus stumbles on at least one democratic candidate. Mane Routinil, who is looking for the novice seat, Gabi Ivans, RC Culo, has decreased three times In an interview with NBC, Kusa from Denver To say if he prefers work requirements for adults who are able.
“It was painful to see,” said a national democratic strategic expert, who spoke frankly in the event of anonymity.
The strategic expert said that the responsibility for the Democrats to raise the voices of regular people in their areas who will be affected by the new rules and to make “people who need Medicaid will lose them because of what Republicans are doing.”
While the senior Democrats repeat their successful message from the 2018 election session, while the Republicans tried to cancel the sponsorship law at reasonable prices and enacted Trump tax discounts, some warn some in the party that the dynamics are different this time.
“The message today is about the demands of the Jesuit Americans to work, prevent fraud and ensure that other than the appointments are not covered.” “While Medicaid reducing the survey is terribly lowering, these individual policies are looking well. Democrats can still win the argument, but members need a sharp message and discipline on work requirements and immigration requirements, not feeling satisfied with the restarting of the strict 2017 playing book.”
The majority of the House of Representatives, a political group that focuses on the election of the Democrats, launched an advertising campaign from six numbers on Wednesday in 26 republican provinces controlled by Republicans, accusing these legislators of voting to raise the prices of ordinary people through medical aid discounts.
An advertisement in Pennsylvania Eighth State in Pennsylvania says that MP Rob Presnan “only made a decisive vote to raise the cost of groceries and reduce your health care, including medicaid-to pay the price of the tax discounts of the wealthy.” A similar text program is used against other job occupants, all of whom were pivotal in voting 215-214 to pass the legislation last week and send it to the Senate.
Republicans, in particular, focus on a new advertising campaign for their nomination of tax cuts in the bill, not spending discounts.
NRCC announced New ads Friday, which targets 25 democratic occupations in competitive areas, saying that they voted for “the largest American tax increase in generations” by opposing the draft law that extends to the tax cuts of Trump 2017. The announcement indirectly indicates that citizenship is verified to obtain advantages, saying that in the current situation, “illegitimate people get free gifts that obtain the draft law.”
The advertisement does not mention Medicaid.
