Dem Lawmaker Reveals Tensions In The Republican Conference Over Potential Medicaid Cuts

Congressman Ami Bera (D-CA), a member of the Democratic Doctors Caucus, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss President Trump's budget proposal.

Transcript

00:00Hi, everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now is

00:04Congressman Ami Barra. Congressman, thank you so much for joining me. Yeah, thanks for having me

00:08on again. I want to talk about President Trump's budget plan and specifically a real point of

00:14contention from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, and that is the fear that there will need

00:18to be cuts to Medicaid in order to pay for the president's agenda. The Democratic Doctors Caucus

00:23held a press conference voicing their concerns about potential changes to Medicaid. You were in

00:28the caucus. You were at the press conference. Can you talk to us first about the group and the

00:32message today? Absolutely. So there are now six Democratic members of Congress that are doctors.

00:39I think there's 12 Republican members. And as Democratic doctors, we feel like we've got a

00:44moral responsibility to step out there and talk about what potential cuts to Medicaid would mean

00:52to America's patients. And again, when you put that white coat on, you know, folks trust you.

00:57And it is our responsibility to give the Democratic side of this. Now, we also know in private

01:03conversations with a lot of Republican members, they're very worried about what potential cuts

01:07to Medicaid would do. You know, in many of their communities, the rural hospital is the biggest

01:12employee and is vital to the survival of their patients. And many of those hospitals would be

01:19severely challenged, potentially closed if these cuts go through. So we are also making sure Republican

01:25colleagues understand that. I mean, you have a really interesting role here, having that background

01:30in medicine. What do you think then, with that doctor's perspective, is missing from this national

01:36conversation when it comes to potential Medicaid cuts? Well, so it's important for doctors, nurses,

01:42you know, long-term care providers to get out there and talk to their members of Congress,

01:47not here in Washington, D.C., but back home and make sure they understand the impact. If, you know,

01:54potentially hundreds of billions of dollars get taken out of the Medicaid system, patients are going

02:00to lose care. If they put work requirements in place, patients are going to lose access to care.

02:07So we can say this, not as members of Congress, we can say it as doctors, but we also know we're

02:13members of Congress. So we have the responsibility of voting on legislation like this. So we are out

02:19there every day talking to folks. I mean, you mentioned something really interesting that in

02:24private conversations, Republicans are concerned about these Medicaid cuts. And there is reportedly a

02:30real point of contention between more moderate Republicans, as well as more horde-line Republicans in

02:35the House. Do you have any insight into those conversations? I mean, what do these conversations

02:40look like behind closed doors with your Republican colleagues? You know, behind closed doors, so one of

02:45my California colleagues, David Valadeo, over 450,000 of his constituents get their health care on Medicaid.

02:53He knows that we may, you know, we along with other outside groups are in his district making sure his

03:00constituents know about this. And we've seen him come out publicly saying he won't vote

03:05for Medicaid cuts. Now, if he reverses that and does vote for it, you know, that would be a damaging

03:11vote for him. He voted for ACA cuts in 2017. He lost his seat in 2018. So I think he's someone who

03:21truly understands that potential. But we're doing that around the country. You also, a lot of this

03:28is playing out in public. The Freedom Caucus folks have demanded Medicaid cuts, and they've written a letter

03:34to Speaker Johnson. The moderate Republicans have said, hey, don't cut Medicaid. And they've written

03:39a letter to Speaker Johnson. So you can kind of get a sense of the tensions inside the Republican

03:45conference.