Rep. Begich celebrates passage of tax-cut bill that could cause thousands of Alaskans to lose health coverage

Jul. 3—Alaska's lone U.S. Rep. Nick Begich on Thursday celebrated the passage of President Donald Trump's massive tax, spending and immigration bill.

The bill is set to extend tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthy and make massive cuts to social safety net programs, including Medicaid and food assistance.

Only two Republicans opposed the bill when it came back to the U.S. House for a final vote, after passing in the U.S. Senate earlier this week. Begich said he was "honored" to vote for the bill, highlighting provisions that are set to expand resource development in Alaska and increase spending on border security.

"This legislation fulfills our longstanding goal: Alaska charting its own course, creating good-paying jobs today, and providing opportunity for generations to come," Begich wrote in a statement.

Begich said that the bill protects "care where it is needed" and includes "Medicaid integrity reforms (that) guarantee help for the truly vulnerable" along with new rural hospital funding.

Begich wasn't immediately available for an interview about the vote.

The bill is set to cut nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid spending across the country in the coming decade, primarily by instituting work requirements and additional eligibility checks that are expected to cause 11 million Americans to lose access to coverage.

In Alaska, health care advocates have said thousands could lose coverage due to the new eligibility requirements in the bill.

In part to woo support from moderate Republicans like Alaska's U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, GOP leaders added to the bill a $50 billion rural hospital fund that was expected to pay out to Alaska over $100 million annually in the coming five years.

['One of the hardest votes': Murkowski joins Sullivan in voting for budget bill that includes Medicaid cuts]

The measure increases work requirements for Alaskans seeking food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and transfers a significant portion of program costs to states, though Murkowski negotiated a carve-out for the state that would delay some of the cost transfers at least until 2028.

Congressional Republicans also approved a ban on allowing Medicaid funds to be used to cover non-abortion-related care at Planned Parenthood, which could reduce access to birth control, cancer screenings and other preventive care in the Planned Parenthood clinics located in Anchorage and Fairbanks. It could also cause those clinics to close altogether, officials with Planned Parenthood have said.

The sprawling legislation implements mandatory lease sales in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, longtime goals for Alaska GOP leaders. The bill also promises Alaska a greater share of royalties from resource extraction on federal lands — but those provisions are only set to begin in a decade.

The bill is set to appropriate $23 billion to the Coast Guard and $12 billion to air traffic control facilities and equipment, which Begich wrote will protect "mariners, pilots, and every community that depends on them."

The bill is also expected to rapidly sunset clean energy tax credits that have incentivized solar and wind projects. In Alaska, that led to the cancellation of several projects that were set to lower energy costs across the state.

Begich highlighted that the bill temporarily allows workers to deduct tips and overtime from taxable income, provisions that are set to expire in 2028. Those tax cuts are expected to cost the federal government $120 billion in revenue. Meanwhile, permanently lowering marginal tax rates, a change that will primarily benefit the wealthy, is expected to cost the government $2.2 trillion in the coming decade.

Begich, a multimillionaire who relied on his personal wealth to propel him to Congress, repeatedly railed against the federal deficit during his runs for office. He made no mention of the projections that the bill will increase the national deficit by more than $3 trillion in the coming decade. Republicans have ignored the price tag by claiming that extension of tax cuts first imposed in 2017 would have no price because the tax cuts are already in place.

[Here's how millions of people could lose health insurance under Trump's tax bill]

The passage of the bill comes two days after Murkowski — one of the last GOP holdouts in the Senate to eventually vote for the bill — called on the U.S. House to work with the Senate to make improvements to the bill after she cast a vote in favor of its passage. The House did not appear to take her up on the ask, moving quickly to pass the measure ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.

Murkowski, who called her vote for the bill "one of the hardest" she had undertaken in the Senate, was not immediately available for comment on the bill's passage Thursday.

Alaska's U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan said the bill includes "huge wins for Alaska" in a social media post Thursday. He lauded the tax cuts, the Coast Guard investments, the mandatory oil and gas lease sales, the border security spending and "protecting & strengthening Medicaid."

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

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