As more developments surface about the US Senate working through the Reconciliation Bill, a House member from Iowa comments on a chief concern with a major part of the legislation.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that there would be about a $535 billion cut to Medicaid and $295 billion reduction to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) over the next ten years. Iowa’s Third Congressional District Representative Zach Nunn tells Raccoon Valley Radio that there would be no cuts to Medicaid or SNAP for anyone who is vulnerable and that they will still have access to coverage. He argues that the bill does weed out what he claims are individuals that are creating fraud in the system.

“But it doesn’t highlight the fact that there’s over 1.4 million illegal immigrants, currently enrolled in Medicaid, due to largely (Former President Joe) Biden-era policies that were almost exclusively in blue states. That is not fair to everybody that’s a US citizen, who needs Medicaid,  if they are not getting or that system is being bled out too soon.”

Nunn points out that for able-bodied people to qualify for both Medicaid and SNAP they should be working at least 20 hours per week to help pay for the services they are receiving. However, he notes senior citizens, children, pregnant women, those individuals in a rehabilitation program don’t have to work 20 hours per week to qualify for coverage. Nunn states that the bill also reinstates guardrails that would save about $172 billion in Medicaid waste. 

“I believe that by protecting these programs for the vulnerable, while rooting out the fraud, waste and abuse, we’re making the programs stronger in the long-term, while also making sure the taxpayer is being able to keep more of their hard earned dollars right there in their pockets.” 

Nunn adds the other important parts of the legislation includes adding 10,000 more Customs and Border Patrol agents for the southern border, achieving energy independence and extending the child tax credit and installing the child adoption tax credit. The Senate has not yet approved the bill.