A political action committee that backs House Democrats is gearing up a campaign to go after vulnerable Republicans for proposed cuts to Medicaid.
Republicans advanced their budget blueprint that will provide instructions on where lawmakers can spend and slash money to reach a baseline of $1.5 trillion in cuts to counter $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
The Democratic PAC is taking advantage of the GOP’s zeal to slash spending, and in particular is focused on instructions to the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid and other programs, to cut at least $880 billion.
Republicans on the committee see no other way to hit that benchmark without dipping into Medicaid. But their position runs headfirst into President Trump’s promise not to touch the programs used by tens of millions across the country.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, similarly has insisted that Medicaid benefits won’t be cut while Republicans investigate “fraud, waste and abuse.”
Still, House Majority PAC has found an opening to hit Republicans in swing districts ahead of the 2026 midterm cycle.
“While Donald Trump and House Republicans promised to ‘love and cherish’ Medicaid, House Republicans have gone full Matt Bevin and are planning to make deep cuts to fund $4.5 trillion in tax cuts for Elon Musk and other billionaires,” a memo from the PAC read.
The reference to former Republican Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin focused on his failed push to install work requirements in Medicaid and end the program’s expansion without work requirements in the Bluegrass State. His successor, Democrat Andy Beshear, reversed course on the work requirement plan when he took office in 2019.
Still, House Republicans find the Bevin plan attractive as they seek to reform the program to find savings. That proposal is estimated to save about $100 billion over a decade.
The PAC goes on to accuse 27 Republicans in battleground districts of “putting Medicaid on the chopping block — a move that would rip life-saving health care away from tens of thousands of their own constituents — roughly half of whom are children.”
Freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, who flipped Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District by just over 6,000 votes, is aware of the pressure. He vowed to vote against a bill “that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on.”
“Pennsylvania’s Eighth District chose me to advocate for them in Congress,” Mr. Bresnahan said in a statement. “These benefits are promises that were made to the people of [northeastern Pennsylvania], and where I come from, people keep their word.”
House Majority PAC’s effort is the latest in a long line of attacks against Republicans who have broached the idea of making cuts to Medicaid.
One of the most notorious attack ads from the 2012 presidential cycle featured a man meant to be vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan pushing a grandmother in a wheelchair off a cliff. The ad was a reference to Mr. Ryan’s proposal to overhaul Medicare.
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.