Sen. Joni Ernst of R-Iowa was repeatedly pushed to Medicaid cuts in her hometown town hall on Friday in a House budget bill, pushing her back to attendees who said the cuts would lead to death.
“People aren’t. Well, we’re all going to die for heaven,” she said.
The exchange began with complaining to Ernst that the bill would give a substantial tax credit for the super purpose, kicking some people out of Medicaid and food aid programs.
Iowa Republican Sen. Joni Ernst was booed at City Hall on Friday after proposing a Medicaid cut, saying, “We’ll all die for heaven.”
Ernst said that only those who should not join Medicaid in the first place are those who face booting.
“They are not currently eligible under the original definition of Medicaid and will be moved out of those Medicaid roles, which again still allows Medicaid to qualify for those roles,” the senator said.
She later claimed that 1.4 million undocumented immigrants were receiving Medicaid benefits. That figure, cited by the White House and other top Republicans, is based on an analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, which stated that one provision in the bill would result in 1.4 million people losing compensation (including but not limited to those without validated immigration status).
“They don’t qualify, so they’re off,” Ernst said.
After Ernst’s fatal reaction, she complained to the attendees, “What you don’t want to do is listen to me when I say we’re trying to focus on the most vulnerable.”
Democrats hit Ernst’s “dying” line, with Democrats’ national committee chairman Ken Martin saying “the quiet part was loud.”
Martin said Republicans “indicate that as long as their members are the richest, they don’t care if their members are alive or die.
A spokesman for Ernst said, “While Democrats fear to strengthen Medicaid integrity, Senator Ernst is focused on improving the lives of all Iowans. There are only two certainties: death and tax.
Ernst also became a decisive exchange of Doge’s cuts and her support for Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses at Butler County City Hall, but was repeatedly asked about the proposed Medicaid changes.
“Everyone says Medicaid is being cut. People will see their profits being cut. That’s not true,” she said in the first half of City Hall to shout from the crowd.
Ernst predicted that the change would strengthen Medicaid in the long term.
“What we have to do is make sure that people who are part of a vulnerable population have access to Medicaid and receive the full benefits of them. So what we’re trying to do is to strengthen Medicaid by leading the dollar to those who actually meet the requirements of the program,” she said. “We’ll do better.”
Kate Santalis contributed.
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