Republicans defend cuts to Medicaid and renewable energy in Big Beautiful Bill: ‘absolutely out of control’

Key Republican senators pushed back Sunday against criticism of cuts in the One Big Beautiful Bill, including Medicaid work restrictions and the elimination of many green energy subsidies.

The Senate version of President Trump’s signature tax and spending legislation imposes 80 hours a month work requirements on able-bodied adults, including those with children ages 15 and up. It also reduces the health care provider tax, which helps fund state Medicaid plans.

Critics argue that those changes could result in millions of people losing access to Medicaid, which provides health care to over 70 million low-income Americans.

“There’s 35 million people under the poverty line inside the United States, and there’s 70 million people that are signed up for Medicaid,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) told NBC’s “Meet the Press” Sunday.

“What we are focused on is making sure that Medicaid is there for people in the future that need it and get rid of the fraud, waste and abuse.”

Medicaid reform is the largest source of savings in the megabill, with the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimating the legislative bundle would reduce Medicaid costs by about $930 billion over the next decade.

Several senators have been uneasy about the Medicaid reform in the Senate bill, which goes further than the House version of the megabill. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), for example, voted against proceeding with the bill Saturday, citing Medicaid as his top concern.

“I cannot support this bill in its current form. It would result in tens of billions of dollars in lost funding for North Carolina, including our hospitals and rural communities,” Tillis said in a statement Saturday.

“This will force the state to make painful decisions like eliminating Medicaid coverage for hundreds of thousands in the expansion population, and even reducing critical services for those in the traditional Medicaid population.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) had raged against the Medicaid provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, but stopped short of opposing the measure.

“We can’t be cutting health care for working people and for poor people in order to constantly give special tax treatment to corporations and other entities,” Hawley told NBC News last week.

The Senate bill includes bigger cuts to business taxes, including a permanent deductions for R&D spending.

Despite those concerns, key senators defended the Medicaid reforms on the Sunday shows as the Senate forges ahead with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

“The entitlement spending in this nation is absolutely out of control. You can rewind back to the 1960s, when actual mandatory spending, which is what these entitlements are, only made up about a third of federal spending,” Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.) told CNN’s “State of the Union” Sunday.

“Now, if you take that, plus the interest on our debt, it’s about 73 percent of what we spend.”

Sen. Jim Banks (R-Ind.) also touted plans to consider an amendment that would ensure illegal immigrants don’t get access to Medicaid.

“Remember, the Medicaid reforms in this bill are about work requirements and taking illegals off of Medicaid,” Banks told “Fox News Sunday.”

Another closely watched amendment from Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) would lower the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP), which determines the percentage of Medicaid costs covered by Uncle Sam.

Scott’s amendment would lower FMAP for able-bodied, childless adults. The amendment has been used to win over fiscal hawks such as Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), who had threatened to vote against the megabill due to concerns about the deficit.

In addition to the Medicaid reform, senators also defended the cuts to Biden-era renewable energy subsidies, something that has infuriated tech mogul and one-time Trump “first buddy” Elon Musk.

“The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country!” Musk fumed on X Saturday. “Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

The Senate version of the megabill significantly rolls back tax credits for green energy in the Biden administration’s Inflation Reduction Act and requires key projects to go into service by the conclusion of 2027 to qualify.

It also features an excise tax that takes aim at solar and wind projects.

“Again, $1.6 trillion in spending cuts by eliminating the Green New Deal tax credits. Those scams that were passed during the Biden administration,” Banks added. “Much of it is phased out in a quick period of time over the next two or three years.”