'Old Reliable': Hakeem Jeffries Slams GOP For Using 'Waste, Fraud And Abuse' To Justify Medicaid, SNAP Cuts

Forbes Breaking News

During a press briefing on Tuesday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) accused Republicans of using claims of 'waste, fraud, and abuse' to justify cuts to Medicaid and other programs in their budget.

Transcript

00:00The speaker has indicated that the GAO believes there's about $50 billion in fraud and abuse in Medicaid.

00:07What number, if you're looking at fraud and abuse, do Democrats think it's okay to cut?

00:14First of all, there's nothing close to $880 billion.

00:17They argue that over the 10-year window, that would not go out of the $550-some-odd billion.

00:20Yeah, they're lying to the American people, but let me defer to Frank Pallone.

00:24We did a report in the Energy and Commerce Committee that was based on these red tape requirements in Georgia and Arkansas,

00:36two states that experimented with it.

00:38And what we found was that overwhelmingly hundreds of thousands of people,

00:43I think it was 80%, 90% of the people that would normally be eligible for Medicaid,

00:48lost their benefits because of the red tape requirements.

00:52And no one, or practically no one, got a job, right, because the people who were already employed,

00:58who were able to be employed.

01:00So this is not a question of numbers, right?

01:04I mean, they can make up whatever numbers they want and say, you know,

01:07it's going to be $50 billion or $100 billion.

01:13Well, I understand that.

01:14But what I'm trying to say is what my fear is, and I think maybe that's what you're getting at,

01:19is that they're just going to, you know, do these red tape requirements and say,

01:23oh, that'll hit up to $880 billion.

01:27It won't.

01:28It wouldn't be anywhere near there.

01:30But I think that what's happening now is they're in total disarray.

01:34They don't know what to do.

01:35They know they can't reach these numbers, and so they're probably going to say,

01:39oh, we'll have all this red tape, and somehow that's going to reach the number.

01:44But it's not.

01:45And the only thing that it's going to do is to make sure that most people who are eligible for Medicaid

01:50don't get it and lose their health insurance.

01:53That's right.

01:54Brendan?

01:55Yeah.

01:55Chad, just if I might, because this came up in our 12-hour budget committee markup.

02:00And after this, my staff will provide you with the details.

02:05GAO later did a revision of that GAO report, the initial report,

02:11and they revised that number significantly downward.

02:14They also said that this should not be – it's a little bit contradictory on their part,

02:18but they said this should not be interpreted as a definitive figure.

02:23But, again, happy to provide those details,

02:25because I know the Republican side kept quoting that $500 billion figure over 10 years,

02:30but even GAO is not standing by that.

02:33The question also has to be asked.

02:35Why are House Republicans jumping through hoops to try to cut Medicaid,

02:42the health care of the American people, and cut nutritional assistance?

02:45It's all in service of enacting massive tax breaks for their billionaire MAGA donors like Elon Musk.

02:52The simple approach here, mathematically, is just to eliminate the tax breaks that you are trying to enact

03:01as it relates to your extreme MAGA Republican donors.

03:05And then you don't have to consider cutting Medicaid.

03:10You don't have to consider cutting SNAP.

03:13You don't have to consider cutting educational or housing benefits that the American people have earned.

03:20And have come to rely upon.

03:25This is all being done in service of rewarding their donors like Elon Musk.

03:31And it is unacceptable.

03:34And Republicans can't explain that rationally to the American people.

03:38And so, as a result, they go to old reliable waste, fraud, and abuse.

03:43Of course, Democrats are open.

03:47In every instance, try to make sure that the federal government is effective, efficient, and equitable.

03:55And to the extent that there's waste that can be found in any program, we're open to that in good faith.

04:03There is nothing close to $880 billion in waste, fraud, and abuse as it relates to Medicaid.

04:11There is nothing close to $230 billion as it relates to the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program.

04:18It's all phony.

04:19And it's all designed to try to justify massive tax breaks for the wealthy, well-off, and well-connected billionaire donors of the Republicans.

04:30And that's something that the American people have made clear they reject.

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