'We’re gonna do it': Commerce Secretary gives away Trump’s game plan on cutting Medicaid
U.S. President Donald Trump holds an executive order about tariffs increase, flanked by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 13, 2025. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque//File Photo
Although Trump promised not to touch Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security last week, his new billionaire Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, has now said otherwise.
“Social Security won’t be touched, other than if there’s fraud or something. It’s going to be strengthened. Medicare, Medicaid — none of that stuff is going to be touched,” Trump said last week.
Trump has also said he would "love and cherish" the programs. “We’re not going to do anything with that, unless we can find some abuse or waste,” he added. “The people won’t be affected. It will only be more effective and better.”
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Lutnick, who was co-chair of Trump’s transition team, said otherwise.
“When I set up DOGE with Elon, so back in October … I flew down to Texas, got Elon Musk to do it [set up DOGE], and here was our agreement: that Elon was gonna cut a trillion dollars of waste fraud and abuse,” Lutnick told Fox News’ Jesse Waters Wednesday.
“Think about it. We have almost $4 trillion of entitlements, and no one’s ever looked at it before. You know Social Security is wrong, you know Medicaid and Medicare are wrong. So he’s gonna cut a trillion and we’re gonna get rid of all these tax scams that hammer against America and we’re gonna raise a trillion dollars of revenue,” he continued.
“And our objective under Donald Trump is to balance this budget and I’m telling you, you watch and we’re gonna do it,” he said.
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House Republicans’ budget plan, which Trump has endorsed, includes billions of cuts to Medicaid in order to finance Trump’s tax plan.
“Maybe he was lying during his Fox interview. Maybe he doesn’t know what’s in the House GOP plan he endorsed. Maybe he assumes the public won’t notice the contradiction,” writes Steve Benen at MSNBC. "Whatever the explanation, Trump’s incoherence both complicates his own party’s legislative strategy and imperils the future of a health care program that helps protect tens of millions of Americans," he added.
About 79 million people are enrolled in Medicaid, according to NPR.
"The level of cuts being discussed would be incredibly damaging and catastrophic for our hospitals," said Beth Feldpush, senior vice president of policy and advocacy at America's Essential Hospitals, a trade group, told NPR.
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