With a March 14 government funding deadline fast approaching, U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is promising that Republicans will not be cutting entitlements like Medicaid, Medicare and Social Security.

However, Johnson told CNN that the budget plan narrowly passed by the House on Wednesday will seek to implement President Trump’s agenda to root out waste and inefficiencies.

Johnson explained that finding efficiencies in entitlement programs would require something other than simply cutting benefits to those who are truly in need.

He pointed to strong public support for work requirements as a way to ensure taxpayer money isn’t going to “29-year-old males sitting on their couches playing video games.”

The Speaker also told CNN that per capita caps on federal funding for those programs are “off the table.”

Rather than the programs being an open-ended entitlement, those caps mean the federal government would pay a share of states’ Medicaid costs based on their population.

This is just one option being considered as House Republicans are seeking at least $880 billion in savings from the Energy and Commerce Committee.

Johnson saw the budget resolution passed by a razor thin 217-215 vote that required plenty of wrangling of GOP House members in order to secure enough votes.

Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) was the lone Republican House member to vote against the resolution, saying that GOP leaders “convinced him” to vote against it because the measure would increase the federal deficit by billions of dollars.

According to ABC News, Johnson responded to concerns that the bill would increase the deficit, saying, “The objective and our commitment has always been deficit neutrality. That’s the goal here. If we can reduce the deficit, even better.”

The blueprint now heads to the Senate where questions remain as to what Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will do with the measure.

With a target of $2 trillion in cuts to mandatory federal spending, the GOP is going to have to find the courage to actually begin reducing entitlement programs rather than just talking about it.