On Tuesday morning President Donald Trump visited to Capitol Hill to implore House Republicans to end debate over his big tax cuts bill and get the legislation passed.
The president's visit came as several Republicans have voiced some concerns about whether the bill does enough to cut the growing deficit. Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue, The Associated Press reported.
Trump dismissed claims by Democrats of widespread cuts to Medicaid. He reiterated that the only thing Republicans want to do is cut the "waste, fraud and abuse" in such programs.
Gary Bauer is Chairman of the Campaign for Working Families.
"The president is on Capitol Hill today, and he called out by name, some conservative Republican congressmen, and the president said if you don't vote the right way on this, you ought to be voted out of office. So, I think that it will get done."
Conservative Republicans are looking to speed up the new work requirements that Republicans want to enact for able-bodied participants in Medicaid. They had been proposed to start Jan. 1, 2029, but GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on CNBC that work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries would begin in early 2027.
At least 7.6 million fewer people are expected to have health insurance under the initial Medicaid changes, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said last week.
Bauer thinks every Republican should understand the consequences if the bill doesn't get done.
"The party is over. We will lose the House. We may even lose the Senate. Trump's presidency will be over. We will have committed suicide as a political party if a handful of Republicans in the House or Senate end up preventing this bill from passing."
Bauer says he is still hopeful the House can get it done over Memorial Day weekend.
"I think final passage though in both the House and the Senate is likely not to happen until near the end of the summer."
