Trump lacks basic understanding of what his budget bill would actually do: report
President Donald Trump on February 11, 2025 (Wikimedia Commons)
President Donald Trump appeared to misjudge the effects of his “Big, Beautiful Bill” on Medicaid on Wednesday, even as the legislation advances.
NOTUS reported that Trump appeared unclear about the bill’s actual impact during a White House meeting on Wednesday with moderate Republicans and members of the Main Street Caucus.
According to three individuals present, he asserted that Republicans should avoid changing three programs ahead of upcoming elections: “Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.”
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“But we’re touching Medicaid in this bill,” one member pushed back directly, per the report.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who was present at the meeting, told NOTUS that nothing the president or his team proposed would persuade him to change his vote. He noted that leadership has suggested “fixes” to the legislation after it passes — effectively meaning Congress would enact further corrective measures — but Burchett dismissed that idea.
“Now we’re having to once again hear the line, ‘Let’s pass this and then we’ll fix it later,’” Burchett told NOTUS. “And we never fix it later, and America knows that.”
Meanwhile, a memo from the House Freedom Caucus Wednesday strongly criticized the GOP megabill passed by the Senate. The caucus's sharp criticism of the legislation came as Republican leadership worked to corral votes from conservative hard-liners for Wednesday's session.
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This three-page document zeroes in on more than a dozen significant changes the Senate made to the bill after its May passage in the House, according to a report by Politico.
“The bill violates the House framework of $1 of tax cuts for $1 of spending cuts (with 2.6 percent economic growth), increases the deficit by $761 billion without interest and more $1.3 trillion with interest after changes were made in base text and a wrap-around amendment was adopted,” the memo says.
“This was not what Leader [John] Thune and Speaker [Mike] Johnson promised," it adds.
