'Definitely not convinced': Mike Johnson and Trump are clashing on major issue

30 April

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reacts following the passage of a spending legislation to avert a government shutdown, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is now faced with a difficult task: Passing a budget bill that the slim House Republican majority will support, while staying away from contentious policies that President Donald Trump is hesitant to support.

Politico reported Wednesday that the speaker and the Trump administration have been repeatedly going back and forth on the proposal to cut hundreds of billions of dollars in federal support for Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income and disabled Americans. The legislation that passed the House earlier this year would cut Medicaid by more than $800 billion over a ten-year period.

However, the version that Senate Republicans passed stayed away from Medicaid cuts after multiple Republican senators expressed reservations about the number of constituents that would lose their health insurance. Trump is reportedly on the side of not cutting Medicaid, and Politico's sources told the outlet that the administration is wary of the political implications of cutting the popular program.

“Trump is definitely not convinced on reductions in Medicaid spending,” an unnamed advisor said. “His own instincts are that politically it’s not good, and Trump’s political instincts are pretty good.”

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — whose future is uncertain as Musk appears to be exiting his White House role — spent most of Trump's first 100 days loudly proclaiming it was rooting out "waste, fraud and abuse" throughout federal agencies. Republicans have indicated that they intend to focus the bulk of their Medicaid cuts by ramping up work requirements and means testing, but Trump has so far waffled on any major changes, with the anonymous advisor saying Trump has said he's "not so sure" about cutting Medicaid to any degree.

"We want to preserve Medicaid for the most vulnerable, for our kids, our pregnant women, the poor and disabled," Trump said during his 100-day rally in Michigan this week.

But despite Trump's apparent opposition, many Republicans — like members of the House Freedom Caucus — have indicated that they want steep cuts to Medicaid in order to support the bill. And given the GOP's slim House majority, Johnson has little wiggle room to appease hardliners who have said their continued support of his speakership is contingent on him ramming through significant cuts to Medicaid and other programs. Republicans have given themselves a deadline of Memorial Day to get the budget bill to Trump's desk.

Click here to read Politico's full report.

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