WASHINGTON – Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) says Republicans aren’t actually cutting anyone’s federal health or food benefits in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill — a plan that slashes $1 trillion from Medicaid and food assistance programs.
“I want to be super clear: When these Democrats have been lying to you, saying we’re cutting Medicaid, Medicare, SNAP benefits, that we’re going to cut all of these other programs — they’re lying,” Van Orden said Thursday on a Wisconsin-based podcast, “The Meg Ellefson Show” on WSAU.
“We did this early enough so that folks are going to understand that we’re telling the truth. It’s fantastic,” said Van Orden. “I want anybody in my district to call me if their benefits have been dropped by a nickel. Not gonna happen.”
It’s not clear what the GOP congressman is talking about. Trump’s hugely consequential tax and spending bill, which House Republicans passed Thursday and sent to the Senate, represents the largest upward transfer of wealth in U.S. history. It cuts $1 trillion from federal health and food programs to help pay for $4 trillion in new tax cuts to rich people.
The effects of this bill, if it became law, would be devastating for millions of low-income people who rely on Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the food stamps program. The bill would kick an estimated 8 million people off of health insurance.
Meanwhile, the bill’s expanded work requirements for SNAP would result in an estimated 1.5 million families losing all food benefits and 1.2 million families losing some, according to an analysis from the Urban Institute, a public policy think tank.
Those numbers include an estimated 48,000 children who would lose food assistance entirely, and 1.5 million children who would get fewer benefits.
An estimate by the Congressional Budget Office puts the number of people losing some or all food benefits at more than 3 million.
“As a mother and someone who at times relied on food assistance as a child, these numbers are heartbreaking,” said Rep. Angie Craig (D-Minn.), the top Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee. She requested the CBO’s analysis of the bill’s effects on SNAP benefits.
“It is infuriating that Republicans in Congress are willing to make our children go hungry so they can give tax breaks to the already rich,” Craig said in a statement. “We must protect these basic needs programs that help Americans afford food when they fall on hard times.”
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In Van Orden’s own community, Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District, about 152,900 people — or 21% of the district — depend on Medicaid for health coverage, per an analysis by KFF, formerly known as the Kaiser Family Foundation. Approximately 50,000 of the Medicaid enrollees in Van Orden’s district are children, and 21,600 are seniors. More than 20,000 are people with disabilities.
Nearly 1.3 million people in Van Orden’s state are enrolled in Medicaid.
Thousands of people in his district rely on SNAP benefits, too. The GOP tax bill puts about 8,000 adults in Van Orden’s district at risk of losing all food assistance, and about 16,000 people at risk of losing at least some food benefits, per an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. These figures include thousands of people who live with school-aged children.
A Van Orden spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Here’s a link to the audio of Van Orden on the podcast. His comments about the GOP bill not cutting any benefits start around the 2:20 mark.
In another Thursday interview on another MAGA-aligned podcast, “The John Fredericks Show,” Van Orden celebrated the bill’s passage and somehow claimed it was proof Republicans delivered on a campaign promise to protect federal health programs.
“We campaigned on protecting Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, securing the border, making sure veterans have their benefits. We did it,” the Wisconsin Republican says around the 45-minute mark. “We. Did. What. We. Campaigned on. And I’m so super stoked for being a part of this process.”