Trump Adviser Says the Quiet Part Out Loud on Medicaid Cuts

Yahoo

27-05-2025

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White House adviser David Sacks admitted over the weekend that the GOP's tax bill will include significant cuts to Medicaid, despite claims from his boss and other MAGA loyalists that it will not.
Sacks, who is President Donald Trump's AI and crypto czar, said plainly on the All-In podcast: 'This bill cuts $880 billion from Medicaid over a decade.'
That statement undercuts weeks of spin from the White House and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Each has repeatedly claimed that Trump's 'One Big Beautiful Bill' will not reduce funding to Medicaid, which provides free or low-cost health coverage to 85 million Americans.
Despite objections from Democrats, the GOP bill passed Thursday with a narrow 215–214 vote.
The admission from Sacks came as he defended Trump for not pushing for additional spending cuts in the bill, which the entrepreneur Jason Calacanis, the podcast's co-host, said he wanted to see done. Sacks said Trump did not have the House votes needed to push through for more cuts, but Calacanis countered that the president has never been shy about bullying his way into getting what he wants.
Calacanis' co-host, Canadian-American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, was also puzzled that the bill's only cuts are to Medicaid.
'The level of financial illiteracy in this bill will come back to bite America in the a--,' he said. 'Period.'
Sacks' comment was first reported by Rolling Stone, which noted that Johnson parroted his Medicaid line as recently as Sunday. He told CBS News then that Republicans 'have not cut Medicaid' and instead are merely 'working on fraud, waste, and abuse.'
Trump spoke similarly when asked last week if working-class Americans, especially his supporters, would lose Medicaid benefits under the House GOP bill. He responded, 'They won't lose health insurance.'
The GOP bill's cuts to Medicaid stem from a work requirement that is now attached to qualify for coverage—a change expected to strip health insurance from millions of Americans. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that 10 million people will lose their coverage by 2034 because of the proposed change.
Specifically, the bill requires able-bodied adults younger than 65 to log at least 80 hours of work, schooling, or community service per month to be eligible for Medicaid.
The requirement, which has exemptions for pregnant women, caregivers, and people with disabilities, was written to go into effect Dec. 31, 2026. The bill still has to pass the U.S. Senate, where it is likely to undergo changes.
The bill does not have unanimous GOP backing. In addition to House Republicans who opposed it, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has denounced the Medicaid cuts and will be a Senate hurdle for the bill.
Hawley, 45, has said the bill, as it is currently written, will harm 'working people and their children.' He wrote in a New York Times op-ed that voting in favor of Medicaid cuts is 'both morally wrong and politically suicidal.'