WASHINGTON — Republicans have promised the public for weeks their budget plan moving through Congress would not touch funding for Medicaid, Medicare or Social Security.
The director of the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency that provides economic and budget analysis for Congress, said this week that’s impossible.
The Republicans’ budget proposal — drawn up with the goal of cutting at least $1.5 trillion in federal spending and paying for as much as $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade — cleared the House in a tight vote last week.
The House adopted the plan 217-215. New Jersey’s lawmakers split along party lines, with Republicans voting for it and Democrats against it.
Medicaid covers nearly 2 million people in New Jersey, roughly 30,000 of whom are disabled, plus at least 60% of nursing home residents, according to state data. Medicaid also covers the costs for about 40% of the births in the state.
Big impact on NJ
Cuts by the Republican Congress and the Trump administration would likely force higher costs onto New Jersey taxpayers and residents. About one-third of the state budget is Medicaid expenses with federal money covering a majority of the program’s cost. In the budget year ending June 30, the program is slated to cost $19.4 billion, of which nearly $12 billion is to be paid for by the federal government and $6 billion by the state.
The budget plan is the Trump administration’s first substantial legislative objective this Congress, and Republicans are using a special procedural method called “budget reconciliation” that allows them to avoid the Senate’s filibuster that requires 60 yes votes to advance a bill.
The plan also calls for $100 billion for the U.S. military and $90 billion, over ten years, for the Trump administration’s immigration goals.
To slash spending, the plan directs the House committee that oversees federal health programs, where Rep. Frank Pallone (D-6th) is the top-ranking Democrat, to find $880 billion minimum in cuts.
Pallone’s request
In a three-page response to a request from Pallone, the director of the CBO, Phillip Swagel, said cuts of that level would not be achievable without cutting into the safety-net programs of Medicare, Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which provides health coverage for low-income kids.
Even if the health committee cut all programs under its jurisdiction except for the safety-net programs, the savings would amount to just $135 billion, according to the CBO analysis. The panel in question, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, also oversees telecommunications programs and small federal programs. But Medicaid funding dwarfs them by comparison.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew’s district is home to approximately 126,400 people signed up for Medicaid or CHIP — about 20% of people in the district — according to the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.
“This letter from CBO confirms what we’ve been saying all along: the math doesn’t work without devastating Medicaid cuts,” Pallone said in a statement, adding, in part, that the “Republicans know their spin is a lie.”
Pallone and Brendan Boyle, a Democrat from Pennsylvania and his party’s top lawmaker on the House budget committee, requested the CBO report on Monday.
Van Drew wavered, then voted yes
Cutting Medicaid could be politically radioactive for Republican lawmakers nationwide, in particular those who represent poorer districts, and some of them wavered before voting for the plan in the House last week.
Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-2nd) was one of those wavering members, telling reporters before the vote he was unsure how he would vote due to worries about Medicaid.
After the CBO report came out, Van Drew said eliminating waste and fraud in the federal government’s budget could save billions of dollars.
“The budget resolution that was passed by the House was a non-binding resolution that laid the framework for savings spread over ten years — it does not enact any changes to these vital programs, nor would I ever support such cuts,” Van Drew said in a statement Thursday. “As this budget moves to the Senate and incorporates input from President Trump, it will continue to evolve.”
Van Drew told NJ Spotlight News on Wednesday he met with Sarah Adelman, commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Human Services, to discuss the Republican budget plan.
Van Drew’s district is home to approximately 126,400 people signed up for Medicaid or CHIP — about 20% of people in the district — according to the Center for Children and Families at Georgetown University.
A spokesman for Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th) said Thursday the congresswoman is organizing town halls in the congressional districts of Van Drew and Reps. Chris Smith (R-4th) and Tom Kean (R-7th) that would focus on potential Medicaid cuts.
