How Medicare could be on the chopping block as GOP feuds over Trump's big MAGA bill
Republicans are searching high and low for ways to cut federal spending to pay for Donald Trump's sweeping tax cuts, and they may reform Medicare to do it.
For weeks GOP lawmakers have been meeting privately to hammer out the details of their budget plan.
The still unformulated proposal will enable Congress to finally get the ball rolling on massive MAGA legislation that the president has been pushing.
Trump wants his 2017 tax cuts renewed, federal taxes on tips and overtime to be eliminated, money for enhanced border security, and more, all done this year.
The tax cuts are expected to slash up to $5.5 trillion of income from the federal government's balance sheet, meaning lawmakers have to find ways to cut spending in order to not implode their budget.
To do this some conservative lawmakers are looking at cuts to mandatory spending, which are expenditures required by law like Social Security, defense, servicing the interest on the national debt, and Medicare.
While on the campaign trail Trump promised 'under no circumstance should Republicans vote to cut a single penny from Medicare or Social Security.'
Tough the Republican's latest push to reexamine the program may force the president to reconsider.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has asked his top allies to find ways to cut government spending in order to enact Trump's sweeping tax cuts, which will reduce the government's income
Trump (pictured here aboard Air Force One on Sunday) has told GOP lawmakers that he wants major tax reform done this year in addition to immigration reform and other projects
Medicare, which cost $874 billion in 2024, ate up about 15 percent of the government's total spending.
So now lawmakers are eyeing cuts to the popular program, which provides healthcare coverage for nearly 70 million Americans, in order to satisfy Trump's demands despite his past opposition.
'Mandatory spending is the biggest driver of debt in this country and we have to address that,' Rep. Riley Moore (R-W.V.), the former West Virginia treasurer, told Fox Business' Maria Bartiromo Monday morning.
The lawmaker explained that with GOP control over both chambers of Congress and the White House there is a 'once in a lifetime opportunity' to reduce mandatory spending like Medicare.
He went on to explain how mandatory spending totals roughly 75 percent of every dollar spent by the federal government, saying those costs need to be reexamined.
That is already happening under Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which last week began reviewing the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for possible savings.
'CMS has two senior Agency veterans – one focused on policy and one focused on operations – who are leading the collaboration with DOGE, including ensuring appropriate access to CMS systems and technology,' an agency spokesman said last week in a statement.
'We are taking a thoughtful approach to see where there may be opportunities for more effective and efficient use of resources in line with meeting the goals of President Trump,' it continued.
The DOGE leader indicated last week there is widespread wasteful spending within the agency, posting on his platform X: 'This is where the big money fraud is happening.'
Back in Congress, Republicans are discussing how exactly they could reform Medicare to balance their budget for Trump's MAGA legislation.
DOGE leader Elon Musk said Medicare 'is where the big money fraud is happening' last week
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said Republicans are paving 'the way for a costly massive tax giveaway to the ultra-wealthy and corporations
However, House and Senate Republicans are on totally different pages when it comes to getting this task accomplished.
Speaker Mike Johnson is convinced all of the president's priorities can be solved with what Trump has referred to as 'one big, beautiful bill.'
Meanwhile the Senate Budget Committee chairman Lindsey Graham - who spent the weekend with Trump golfing and at the Super Bowl - has been whispering to the president that the Senate's plan of passing two MAGA bills is a better way forward.
That's because Johnson's own Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) has not put forward his own plan yet.
Democrats, on the other hand, are vehemently against cuts to the massive Medicare program.
'Republicans are prepared to gut health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid, raise the cost of higher education and jeopardize countless jobs across the country – all to pave the way for a costly massive tax giveaway to the ultra-wealthy and corporations,' Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement last week.
'Democrats will fight to protect critical investments in working families across the country, but just like in 2017 we will need some courageous Republicans to stand up to President Trump and vote no,' he continued.
While House and Senate Republicans squabble over what to cut one idea that has been reported is adding requirements to qualify for Medicare, thereby reducing the total number of enrollees and overall cost of the program.
Still, there has not been an official announcement over Medicare reform, and any cuts to the program could carry a heavy political price tag.
