Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, was repeatedly pressed on cuts to Medicaid in the House’s budget bill at a town hall and pushed back on an attendee who said the cuts would lead to deaths.
“People are not — well, we all are going to die, so, for heaven’s sakes,” she said, prompting resounding jeers.
The exchange began with an attendee complaining to Ernst that the bill would give significant tax breaks to the ultrawealthy while kicking some people off Medicaid and food assistance programs. Ernst said the only people who face getting booted are those who should not be on Medicaid in the first place.
She later claimed that 1.4 million undocumented immigrants are receiving Medicaid benefits. That figure, which the White House and other top Republicans have also cited, is based on a Congressional Budget Office analysis that said that one provision of the bill would cause 1.4 million people to lose coverage (including but not limited to those without verified immigration status).
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