WASHINGTON – Multiple people were escorted out of the U.S. Capitol in handcuffs after protesting proposed cuts to Medicaid on Wednesday.
Some laid down on the floor of the U.S. Capitol to call out proposed cuts to Medicaid in the massive tax cut and spending bill referred to by President Trump and Republicans as his so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”
The tax cut and spending plan is facing fierce pushback from Democrats, who say the cuts to Medicaid and other programs will leave millions of Americans out to dry.
“You’re cutting Medicaid, food assistance, childcare, making it harder for women to participate in the workforce all to give tax breaks to people who already have access to all of these things,” Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, D-Delaware, said.
A review from the independent group KFF estimates nearly one million people in Florida would be at risk of losing their health coverage if the bill is signed into law.
It’s not only Democrats pushing back. Some Republicans, including Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, say the current version would cut off critical funding for rural hospitals.
“The leader needs to get with the rural hospitals, and he needs to satisfy their concerns and make sure that they can stay open,” Hawley said.
The sweeping bill is supposed to deliver on President Trump’s biggest policy goals, like extending tax cuts and increasing funding for defense and immigration. The White House is pressuring lawmakers to get it done.
“There’s nothing more important that we should be involved in and can be involved in than getting the One Big Beautiful Bill to the president’s desk,” House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said.
GOP leaders are on the clock, trying to push ahead and get the bill passed by President Trump’s July 4 deadline.
“You’re looking at whether or not you’re gonna allow the perfect to become the enemy of the good,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, said.
Medicaid is just one sticking point. There are also some conservatives who say the bill does not do nearly enough to address the growing national debt.
Lawmakers are also closely following some shakeups at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The advisory board for vaccines met earlier Wednesday.
It was the board’s first meeting since Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 of the previous members.
On Wednesday, the new board voted to launch a review of the childhood vaccine regimen, looking specifically at the shots for hepatitis B, chickenpox and the combo measles, mumps and rubella vaccine.
Right now, all are recommended for newborns before 15 months.