Why a GOP senator says the budget bill breaks Trump's promise

Consider This from NPR

NPR

Society & Culture, News, Daily News, News Commentary

4.1 • 5.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 June 2025

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The massive budget bill that Senate Republicans are debating pays for some of its tax cuts by slashing hundreds of billions of dollars in Medicaid spending. The latest report from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates nearly 12 million people will lose health insurance if the Senate version of the bill becomes law.

Trump insists the cuts come from eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Democrats have said they break Trump's promise not to touch Medicaid — and over the weekend, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina agreed. "What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there anymore?"

We asked Sarah Jane Tribble, the chief rural correspondent for KFF Health News, what the cuts will mean for rural residents of states like North Carolina — and the hospitals that serve them.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Email us at [email protected].

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Does the massive budget bill that Senate Republicans are currently debating keep a promise or break one?
0:06.6	It makes permanent tax cuts passed during President Trump's first term and adds some new cuts,
0:12.4	which is something Trump ran on.
0:14.7	My plan is to make the Trump tax cuts permanent.
0:18.9	They are massive tax cuts, biggest ever, permanent.
0:23.0	And to cut taxes even more.
0:25.3	But Trump has repeatedly made another promise since he entered office.
0:29.0	We're not cutting Medicaid.
0:30.3	We're not cutting Medicare.
0:31.5	And we're not cutting Social Security.
0:33.0	None of that stuff is going to be touched.
0:34.3	Nothing.
0:35.2	You don't have to.
0:36.0	We're going to love and cherish Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid. We're not going to be touched. Nothing. I don't have to. We're going to love and cherish Social Security,
0:39.2	Medicare, Medicaid. We're not going to do anything with that. I mean, I have said it so many times.
0:43.4	You shouldn't be asking me that question. Well, the Republican bill pays for some of its tax cuts
0:49.7	through hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid spending. The latest report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates nearly 12 million
0:59.2	people will lose health insurance if the Senate version of the bill becomes law.
1:04.1	Trump insists the cuts come from eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse.
1:08.3	Democrats have said they break Trump's promise not to touch Medicaid. Over the weekend,
1:13.1	a Republican senator agreed. What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years,
1:21.4	when President Trump breaks this promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there.
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in 18 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.