Protesters target GOP members of Congress over possible Medicaid cuts

The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates lawmakers cannot reach spending targets set in the recent budget proposal narrowly-passed by the U.S. House without cuts to the federal portion of Medicaid.

GOP members of Congress are searching for cost savings in order to pay for President Donald Trump’s tax cuts and border security agenda.

Concerns over potential cuts to the joint federal-state entitlement program, which provides medical coverage for roughly one out of every five Americans, sparked nationwide protests this week.

About 100 unionized health care workers and others who say they depend on Medicaid payments demonstrated outside the Warren office of Michigan Republican Congressman John James on Wednesday.

He wrote on X earlier this month that the GOP will always protect Medicaid.

James blamed Democrats for having spent years “burdening a system that will allow for its collapse,” while vowing to ensure Medicaid coverage for those who “rightfully paid into their benefits and our most vulnerable.”

But James’ Democratic colleague, Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, argues the GOP is still targeting Medicaid funding.

Tlaib said the threat is so strong it compelled her to take the rare step of joining the demonstration outside James’ office, in a Congressional district miles away from her own.

Listen: Michigan Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib says Medicaid cuts would ‘devastate’ families

The following interview has been edited for clarity and length.

U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib: I’m here because Medicaid cuts would devastate so many of my families in my district. If John James could just join us and choose to help the families in the community he represents, the Macomb and Oakland County residents that rely on Medicaid. Especially parents with special needs kids and the huge number of mothers who depend on prenatal care through Medicaid. I’m here to urge him to choose the people that elected him, not Trump or Elon Musk. All of us will have his back if he chooses to do the right thing. We just need three to four Republicans to join us and we’re hoping that Congressman John James changes his mind and doesn’t cut Medicaid.

Quinn Klinefelter, WDET News: What do you mean specifically by needing three or four Republicans to join you?

RT: It’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans in the U.S. House and Congress. The Republican majority is very small and we know that many of our Republican colleagues have constituents who depend on Medicaid, including one in California where over 60% of his residents rely on it. So this is not about Republicans or Democrats, it’s really an issue of access to health care coverage for those that are ill or those that have special medical conditions. John James’ district is one that would be hit very hard if Medicaid cuts were to go into effect. Yet he voted to approve the House Energy and Commerce Committee cutting $880 billion in costs over the next decade. That committee oversees health care, Medicare, Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act. He did it with no hesitation. We’re here to remind him this would actually devastate his community, not just communities like mine.

QK: There had been talk for a long time that politicians should stay away from entitlements, period. That wasn’t something you touched. But now, when Republicans say they’re trying to find cost savings and that there’s not many other places to look except entitlements, what is your reaction?

RT: Have they looked at the Pentagon budget, the Pentagon budget that hasn’t passed seven audits in a row? You’re talking about almost 15% of the federal budget coming from the Pentagon budget. The defense contractors, the military defense complex, has been draining our public tax dollars. If they can’t pass an audit, why didn’t you start there if you’re talking about efficiency? Why would you go to Medicaid and the Department of Education and so many of these vital, important services for our families? Without the food assistance, without Medicaid, without special education programs through our public education system, their lives would be devastated. You have folks that are gaslighting the public and saying that this is supposed to be some sort of cost-saving. It’s not. It’s them wanting to deteriorate any sort of public programs that help our families so they can privatize. And if you listen to the public, they would have told you, “Don’t touch Medicaid.” You promised not to touch it and you did. You voted for an almost $1 trillion cut to health coverage.

QK: You mentioned during your speech here that your phones have been blowing up with calls from people. After the recent stopgap funding measure was passed by Congress, there were some people who said they didn’t think Democrats were “standing up” enough against President Trump and the Republican majority. That Democrats should take other actions beyond what they’re doing right now. Again, what’s your reaction those kind of comments?

RT: I mean, I’m here. I’m doing everything I can, even if it means me having to join John James’ residents here or pushing back against billions of dollars in cuts for veterans’ health care in that so-called temporary budget, the Continuing Resolution. There’s health care coverage, there’s veterans care, there’s vital services that are literally on the chopping board within weeks of Trump becoming president. And this is not a choice that we should be giving Americans. We should be listening to them and understanding that if we really want to care for them, let’s figure out other ways. Let’s fix our health care system, if that’s really your true intention to find efficiency and waste. When we can organize our residents, transformative change comes from them. They can move the institution. We can put our organizing hats on, join our residents and try to give them a bullhorn. And that’s what we can do with the power of our letterhead, the power of our vote and the power to organize.