Trump's agenda

As if the mass firings in the federal workforce by Musk and his team were not enough, it now looks like the Republicans in the Senate and the House are ready to pass a budget “to advance Trump’s agenda.” They were tasked to find about $800 billion in savings to pay for extension of the tax cuts for the rich that are due to expire soon. Rep. Fulcher (R-Idaho) on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, which has jurisdiction over Medicare and Medicaid, said “We got the word that we’ve got to come up with $900 billion [in cuts]. There’s only one place you can go, and that’s Medicaid. That’s where the money is,” Fulcher said. “There’s others, don’t get me wrong. But if you’re going to get to $900 billion, something has to be reformed on the Medicaid front.” (see story in The Hill) The plan calls for decreasing the share the federal government gives the states to pay for Medicaid, leaving the states to either cut services or come up with the difference themselves.