Sen. Udall Statement on Trump Budget Cutting $800 Billion from Medicaid

WASHINGTON, May 22 -- The office of Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., issued the following news release:

Today, U.S. Senator Tom Udall released the following statement on reports that President Trump's budget calls for $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid. The $800 billion cut assumes that the House-passed bill to repeal the Affordable Care Act, known as "TrumpCare," would become law. Tomorrow, Udall will deliver a speech on the Senate floor outlining his opposition to TrumpCare, which would take away health care from hundreds of thousands of New Mexicans and could send New Mexico into recession.

"The proposed cuts to Medicaid in the president's budget and in TrumpCare would devastate the health and economic security of families across New Mexico. President Trump's disastrous proposal would strip away health care from the 265,000 New Mexicans who gained coverage through the Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and would jeopardize the health care of the more than 900,000 New Mexicans who are currently enrolled in Medicaid. TrumpCare drastically reduces Medicaid funding across the board -- not just the expansion passed as part of ACA. This inhumane budget represents an astonishing and brazen broken promise from President Trump, who pledged clearly and repeatedly not to cut Medicaid, which protects kids, the elderly and disabled, and low-income families.

"Not only would the president gut Medicaid and threaten the health care of nearly a million New Mexicans, but his cuts would also deal a crippling blow to New Mexico's already struggling economy. TrumpCare would cost New Mexico nearly 32,000 jobs and $11.4 billion dollars in much needed revenue for our state, threatening to send New Mexico into another recession. Most shockingly, President Trump and Washington Republicans want to enact these catastrophic cuts to Medicaid just so they can give a massive tax cut to the wealthiest Americans.

"President Trump and Washington Republicans' Medicaid cuts would have disastrous consequences for New Mexico, and they must be stopped. I will keep fighting in the Senate to make sure that these devastating cuts never become law."