WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Senate Majority Whip, today slammed Democrats’ plan to weaken Medicaid. By passing the One Big Beautiful Bill, Republicans strengthened Medicaid. Democrats want to weaken Medicaid by giving tax-payer funded benefits to illegal immigrants and allowing able-bodied adults who don’t work to game the system.

Click HERE to watch Senator Barrasso’s remarks.

Sen. Barrasso’s remarks as delivered:

“I just heard the Minority Leader once again come to the United States Senate chamber and cry wolf. This time it’s about Medicaid reform. Let’s be very clear. We need to strengthen Medicaid, and we did that in the bill that we just passed and was signed into law. But the Minority Leader once again puts fear above the facts.

“He’s upset. He’s upset because Republicans are asking able-bodied adults to work if they want to receive taxpayer-funded health care benefits. He also is upset because Republicans believe that illegal immigrants should not receive Medicaid benefits.

“Let me set the record straight. Medicaid is for the vulnerable. It was never meant to cover able-bodied, working-age adults who refuse to work. Nor was it meant to cover illegal immigrants, which the Democrats continue to embrace.

“Today, there are over 1.2 million illegal immigrants receiving Medicaid benefits. Today, there are 4.8 million able-bodied, working-age adults who refuse to work who are on Medicaid. That doesn’t strengthen Medicaid. It strains it. It weakens it. It makes it harder for the people who need Medicaid – who Medicaid was designed for. It also wastes taxpayer dollars.

“Work requirements are common sense. They used to be bipartisan. Bill Clinton signed that into law in the 1990s. President Obama defended it in 2008. President Obama said work must be the ‘centerpiece of any social policy.’

“Democrats today don’t believe that. They think Clinton was wrong. They think Obama was wrong. They’re for laziness, and they’re for illegal immigrants. The Democrats today are defending dependency rather than independence. That’s what they’re doing today. That’s what Chuck Schumer did on the Floor of the United States Senate this morning.

“Republicans believe in a safety net – a safety net to help people reach their full potential, to get back up on their feet. We believe in hard work. We believe in work as part of somebody’s identity – their dignity, their self-worth, how they view themselves, a role model for their children.

“If you’re healthy and refuse to work, it’s a choice you may want to make. But don’t expect the taxpayers to pay for it. No child, no pregnant woman, or disabled person will lose coverage. But what the Democrats want to do is remove work requirements and continue to fund Medicaid for illegal immigrants. Mr. President, that’s just not fair to everyone else.

“I came to the Floor to talk about a different topic. But listening to the Minority Leader, I couldn’t help myself but to talk about just how far to the left the Democrats have gone. So, it’s no surprise that they are at their lowest level ever in the polls. Front page of The Wall Street Journal this weekend – Democrats at an all-time low in the history of polling in terms of people who identify with the Democrat Party and reject the Democrat Party. Only one in three accept what the Democrats are preaching. Sixty-three percent of the American people do not identify with that at all. And that’s no surprise given the Democrats’ goals. Raising taxes. Continuing to recruit more illegal immigrants to this nation.”

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