House Democrats pushed back on the GOP plan to add work requirements to entitlement programs such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and Medicaid to offset the renewal of President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts.
Democrats have slammed the GOP’s so-called “big beautiful bill” that uses a process called reconciliation to unlock President Donald Trump’s agenda. They’ve honed in on proposed cuts to Medicaid and SNAP funding and reforms to add work requirements to receive such benefits.
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“I think a big thing is actually spelling out what they mean and what they are, because these aren’t work requirements,” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) told the Washington Examiner while walking into the Energy and Commerce Committee hearing markup on the bill Tuesday.
“These are paperwork requirements that are designed specifically to kick off people who they know are eligible to try to claim that they aren’t,” she continued.
A handful of Democrats held a press conference Tuesday ahead of a heated hearing that was swarmed by protesters opposing Medicaid changes, to highlight the harm these work requirements would have on citizens.
“Medicaid is more cost-efficient. I’m tired of the bull**** about waste and fraud,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) said at the press conference.
“Americans see how they’re going to try to screw working men and women,” Dingell added of the GOP plans.
Across the 11 committees in the House, Republicans have been tasked with cutting $1.5 trillion to offset the cost of preserving Trump’s 2017 tax breaks. The Energy and Commerce Committee was in charge of coming up with $880 billion of these cuts. It reached this goal through healthcare cuts and rolling back green energy programs from the Biden administration.
The committee reached its goal, in part, by adding “community engagement requirements” of at least 80 hours per month of work, education, or service for able-bodied adults who do not have dependents, also forcing recipients to verify their eligibility twice a year instead of once.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office wrote in a letter that the committee recommendations would reach its goal of reducing deficits by $880 million over the 2025-2034 period, estimating the legislation would strip 8.6 million people of their health insurance by 2034.
The SNAP proposal from the House Agriculture Committee also includes new work requirements for recipients of food benefits, increasing the age limit from 54 to 64 and limiting exemptions to caregivers of children under 7.
Republicans called the work requirements common sense to preserve the program for those who most need it.
Federal Medicaid spending has skyrocketed since the expansion of eligibility under former President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Total Medicaid spending was $333 billion before Obama entered office in fiscal 2008 and jumped to $860 billion by 2023, according to analysis from the Paragon Health Institute.
“Medicaid was created to protect healthcare for Americans who otherwise could not support themselves, but Democrats expanded the program far beyond this core mission,” said Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY), who leads the Committee on Energy and Commerce. “That’s why we are establishing common-sense work requirements for capable, but not working adults in the expansion population. Let me be clear: these work requirements would only apply to able-bodied adults without dependents who don’t have a disqualifying condition, encouraging them to reenter the workforce and regain their independence.”
Energy and Commerce Committee member Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) told the Washington Examiner he wants to do anything he can “to make this the most difficult vote for them,” saying it would not be fair if Democrats did not “put up the most substantive fight possible.”
Landsman posted a video on social media shortly after the hearing began to highlight seven ways “Republicans plan to cut healthcare for 14 million Americans.”
The Ohio Democrat highlighted the work requirements in his video, saying the bill “adds paperwork and red tape to make it harder for people to get their healthcare.”
“They know everybody who can work is already working; they’ve tried this in multiple states. The only way they get the money they need for the tax cuts is if people who are eligible for healthcare never get it because of the paperwork and red tape,” Landsman continued.
Outside the Energy and Commerce hearing, dozens of protestors gathered to oppose Medicaid cuts and work requirements. Over 20 of the protestors were arrested.
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Republicans are accusing Democrats of playing politics in Tuesday’s hearing, which some Democrats told the Washington Examiner is expected to last up to 30 hours.
“On @HouseCommerce, we’re expecting Democrats to play politics instead of legislating—and to drag out today’s markup for over 20 hours straight,” Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-TN) posted on X before the hearing. “But they’ll have to do a lot more than that to stop us from delivering President Trump’s America First Agenda.”
