Liz Peak: Democrats are screaming for the latest Trump plan to cut wasteful spending for one reason

We'll help everyone cut government spending until someone actually starts cutting government spending. After that, all hell will loosen.

why? With a $6 trillion federal budget, too many politicians and activists (and donors, universities, businesses) are putting their hands on the till. R-La. As Sen. John Kennedy of the film said it would be memorable, the pigs squeal as they begin to cut fat.

In the queue, the Democrats are squealing. For example, they find that they are profiting from some of the wasteful spending exposed by the Trump White House, just as money designated to deal with climate change flows inappropriately to left-wing think tanks and nonprofits.

Thanks to Elon Musk's government efficiency (DOGE) work, Americans are quickly educated about “soft” corruption that corrodes governments. It's not beautiful. In his speech to Congress, President Trump listed some ridiculous spending in the government. Research on transgender mice (where CNN and others were not mistakenly present) attracted much attention. These disclosures may be why the new Rasmussen polls agree that it is time for two-thirds of the country to “eject swamps.”

The Democrats disagree. They're doing horrible things to undermine Elon Musk and President Donald Trump, warning voters that Congressional doges and Republicans will cut Medicaid benefits. President Trump has said his government will not cut the program but will investigate fraudulent payments.

DEMS weaponizes Medicaid anxiety by bidding to defeat Trump-backed federal funding plans

Hakeem Jeffries, a House Democrats' minority leader, recently said the GOP House spending bill “will cut Medicaid, the biggest in American history.” New York president Mike Roller disputed Jeffries' claims, “Show me where you're talking about certain cuts in the budget resolution. Not so.” Roller is right, but Democrats say the $880 billion in the plan is anticipating cuts in spending from programs under the House Energy Committee, like health spending.

The truth is that simply eradicating fraudulent payments from Medicaid (and Medicare) would go a long way in providing such savings. Last year, GAO reported that “inappropriate payments” from federal Medicaid spending reached $51.3 billion in 2023 (and Medicare inappropriate payments totaled $51 billion). Medicaid figures have been significantly higher in the past few years, falling only because of the “flexibility given to the state during the Covid-19 public health emergency.” In 2021, fraudulent payments totaled $100 billion and in 2022 totaled $83.1 billion. GAO warns that inappropriate payment rates are likely to be high.

Medicaid spending more than doubled over the past decade, but median income has increased by 14%, with poverty rates plunging from 14% to 11.5%. In 2013, 408.3 million Americans were in poverty in the United States. By 2022, that number had fallen to 41.9 million. The numbers make no sense given that Medicaid is a program primarily aimed at low-income Americans.

On the day since the partial government closure deadline, there is a place where things stand.

Part of the reason Medicaid has grown so rapidly is that President Obama and later President Joe Biden enacted changes that encouraged the expansion of registration. When Barack Obama took office in 2009, 51 million Americans had received Medicaid. By the end of his presidency, there were 74 million people, an increase of 45%. Obama encouraged greater participation by loosening the work requirements for receiving Medicaid. President Trump has allowed the state to reimpose that demand during his first White House term. As a result, in part, the number of Medicaid subscribers has narrowly swelled, increasing from 74 million to 76 million. Without the Covid outbreak, those numbers would probably have stagnated under Trump.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, President Biden pushed for changes to rules that would significantly increase Medicaid registration and costs in the year before his second term. CMS estimated the federal costs of Biden's rules between $68.5 billion and $134.8 billion over five years. One rule partially undermines the eligibility requirements for enrollees by requiring state Medicaid programs to discount pensions, pensions and retirement funds when determining income levels.

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Additionally, some states, such as New York, allow illegal immigrants to receive Medicaid. That also pushed the numbers up.

Why do Democrats work to expand Medicaid? Because, like other benefits, recipients often reward state officials for generosity that they appear to be indifferent to costs. Democrat-run New York, for example, spent $94.6 billion on Medicaid in 2023, spending more than $4,800 on each resident. This was 82% above the national average. The state alone paid Medicaid $1,800 per person, more than twice the US average of $835.

Opposed to trimming out-of-control spending on the program, Democrats invited Medicaid beneficiaries to attend Trump's speech to Congress, hoping to highlight their reliance on the program. During the speech, Democrats chanted and shook the lollipop signs saying, “Save Medicaid.” As it happened, refusing to praise their embarrassing shenanigans, especially the young cancer victims and hostages brought home from Russia, owned their message.

However, it does not stop. Progressive Mouthpiece Congressman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., said on Instagram after his speech: “Trump has not mentioned Medicaid in his union status.

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It may actually turn out to be dynamite, an explosive issue in favor of Republicans. A new survey by Pollster Scott Rasmussen states, “71% of voters support reducing Medicaid spending growth by eliminating illegal immigrants and demanding work from successful recipients.”

The reform mission is tough if even the majority of Democrats agree that Medicaid spending must be reduced. My view: It is “unsustainable” to cut something that almost everyone agrees with, and it rings them.

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