GOP Congressman Falsely Claims Trump’s Tax Bill Won’t Cut Medicaid, Food Benefits | EUROtoday

WASHINGTON – Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) says Republicans aren’t really chopping anybody’s federal well being or meals advantages in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax invoice — a plan that slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid and meals help applications.

“I want to be super clear: When these Democrats have been lying to you, saying we’re cutting Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP benefits, that we’re going to cut all of these other programs — they’re lying,” Van Orden stated Thursday on a Wisconsin-based podcast, “The Meg Ellefson Show” on WSAU.

“We did this early enough so that folks are going to understand that we’re telling the truth. It’s fantastic,” stated Van Orden. “I want anybody in my district to call me if their benefits have been dropped by a nickel. Not gonna happen.”

It’s not clear what the GOP congressman is speaking about. Trump’s vastly consequential tax and spending invoice, which House Republicans handed Thursday and despatched to the Senate, represents the most important upward switch of wealth in U.S. historical past. It cuts $1 trillion from federal well being and meals applications to assist pay for $4 trillion in new tax cuts to wealthy individuals.

The results of this invoice, if it turned regulation, can be devastating for tens of millions of low-income individuals who depend on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, previously often called the meals stamps program. The invoice would kick an estimated 8 million individuals off of medical insurance.

Meanwhile, the invoice’s expanded work necessities for SNAP would end in an estimated 1.5 million households dropping all meals advantages and 1.2 million households dropping some, in line with an evaluation from the Urban Institute, a public coverage assume tank.

Those numbers embody an estimated 48,000 youngsters who would lose meals help completely, and 1.5 million youngsters who would get fewer advantages.

An estimate by the Congressional Budget Office places the variety of individuals dropping some or all meals advantages at greater than 3 million.

“As a mother and someone who at times relied on food assistance as a child, these numbers are heartbreaking,” stated Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the highest Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. She requested the CBO’s evaluation of the invoice’s results on SNAP advantages.

“It is infuriating that Republicans in Congress are willing to make our children go hungry so they can give tax breaks to the already rich,” Craig stated in an announcement. “We must protect these basic needs programs that help Americans afford food when they fall on hard times.”

In Van Orden’s personal neighborhood, Wisconsin’s third Congressional District, about 152,900 individuals — or 21% of the district — rely upon Medicaid for well being protection, per an evaluation by KFF, previously often called the Kaiser Family Foundation. Approximately 50,000 of the Medicaid enrollees in Van Orden’s district are youngsters, and 21,600 are seniors. More than 20,000 are individuals with disabilities.

Nearly 1.3 million individuals in Van Orden’s state are enrolled in Medicaid.

Thousands of individuals in his district depend on SNAP advantages, too. The GOP tax invoice places about 8,000 adults in Van Orden’s district prone to dropping all meals help, and about 16,000 individuals prone to dropping at the very least some meals advantages, per an evaluation by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. These figures embody hundreds of people that stay with school-aged youngsters.

A Van Orden spokesperson didn’t reply to a request for remark.

Here’s a hyperlink to the audio of Van Orden on the podcast. His feedback concerning the GOP invoice not chopping any advantages begin across the 2:20 mark.

In one other Thursday interview on one other MAGA-aligned podcast, “The John Fredericks Show,” Van Orden celebrated the invoice’s passage and one way or the other claimed it was proof Republicans delivered on a marketing campaign promise to guard federal well being applications.

“We campaigned on protecting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, securing the border, making sure veterans have their benefits. We did it,” the Wisconsin Republican says across the 45-minute mark. “We. Did. What. We. Campaigned on. And I’m so super stoked for being a part of this process.”