on medicaid. states share in the funding of medicaid. millions of disabled children in this country are alive because of medicaid. millions of people with addiction in this country are in recovery because of the services provided to them by medicaid. and millions of chronically ill people who until medicaid expansion was enacted who couldn't get healthcare and therefore couldn't work because they were too sick got healthcare through medicaid expansion then went back to work and now they're on private insurance. so those are some facts about medicaid that you might want to brush up on. i'm also extremely concerned about your endorsement of radical fringe conspiracies that if implemented at hss would put american families lives at risk. vaccines are one of our greatest public health triumphs. i'm not talking about abstract medical science. one of the people who helped raise me was my grandfather, a pediatrician, practiced medicine in this country from 1921 until the mid 1980s. i heard details about the difference those vaccines made in sav

of medicaid. millions of people with addiction are in recovery because of the services provided to them by medicaid and millions of chronically ill people who until medicaid expansion was enacted, who could not get healthcare and could not work because they were too sick, got healthcare through medicaid expansion and went back to work. those are some facts about medicaid that you want to brush up on. now, i am also extremely concerned of your endorsement of radical fringe conspiracy that implemented at hhs would put american family lives at risk. vaccines are one of our greatest public health trends. i am not talking about abstract medical science. i heard details about the difference those vaccines made in saving lives in the children who were under his car. vaccinations have helped to eradicate many deadly diseases in the united states including polio and smallpox, as something we should be proud of. i am extremely concerned that as secretary that you would be able to halt critical vaccine resea

he confused medicare with medicaid. medicare is our nations program for seniors, people over the age of 65 and older. medicaid is one of the many programs that we have for people whose incomes are around 138% of the federal poverty level. it does not have premiums. it does not have very many copayments if any. sometimes you have to pay a copayment for medication but it is like one dollar or two dollars. he talks disparagingly about the clinical outcomes from medicaid programs. it turns out if you have medicaid, you get a pretty good coverage, extraordinary benefits and all of the studies show that it improves our health. we have a natural experiment in our country where we have 10 states that have not expanded medicaid and when you compare the health outcomes from those states that have expanded medicaid versus those states that have not expanded medicaid, you have better outcomes in the states that have expanded medicaid. host: what were your takeaways when you heard rfk jr. testifying about vaccines and his past state

the result of that, despite medicaid. we can argue about that aspect of medicaid. despite 85 million americans were uninsured and your colleague mr. musk made this point. we are spending more on healthcare than any other country per person. i wonder as an adviser to the president, will you try to determine how it is countries around the world are able to provide care to all of their people and in some cases spend 50% per capita of what we are spending. do you think the function of the healthcare system to make huge profits for the drug companies and medical companies or do you believe it should be a human right. >> we should put the metal care dollars the taxpayers are covering from the healthcare system that's substantial and have the best outcome in the programs. i lookat a situation and tragedy we had. driver died of a toothache -- >> you are right. i wouldn't argue with that. the healthcare system is broken and dysfunctional. as an adviser to the president. should we join every other major country on earth and say what, whether you are poor, rich, young, and ol

, paid for by medicaid.ou are going to be in advisor to the president if you are approved. will you tell the president that it is immoral, that it is wrong to cut medicaid, cut health care for low income americans, for children and for the elderly, and give tax breaks to the very richest people in our society? is that something we can count on you to do? mr. vought: i appreciate the question. one of the problems we have in medicaid is the extent to which instead of being a program for the poor, to the extent it is which it's meant for nursing homes -- we have able-bodied, working adults on the program that are benefiting from a higher mass rate than the populations it was originally designed for. as a result of that expanded match, you also have states chasing that match in other ways that have made it so they are not looking at improper payments -- sen. sanders: you're going into another area and that is the health care system in general. as you well know, unfortunately, the united states of america is the

medicaid --health of the population on medicaid. we have a snap program that has too much sugar and things eligible in the program that should be eliminated to make the people who are on free and reduced lunch healthier. we need to stop having full trashcans in public school cafeterias full of stuff the kids aren't eating and figure out how the kids on free and reduced lunch actually have a healthier lifestyle. i for one think it is time to put a disrupter in, it is time to put somebody in who is going to go wild. there are areas where that is exactly what we need, and there are areas in health and human services were if you touch the gold standard for the nih and cdc, i will have a problem with that nominee and we will bring that up during oversight. it was for those reasons, and the fact that there is not a single organization that i consider to be credible in this space, and agriculture, second amendment, or pro-life, who have openly objected to scorn this vote. i believe silence is consent, and the fact that they haven't instruc

it required medicaid to cover medications for opioid use disorder. the support act and everything was broadly successful and appreciated and it was working to help free people from fentanyl addiction. we have to do so much more, however, and that's why the last congress we worked together to pass a new, more robust support act, to address the third wave of the opioid crisis. but when it came to the year-end appropriations package that was crafted to include it, who shows up but elon musk to throw a wrench into our year-end compromise between democrats and republicans to address the opioid crisis through re-authorizing the support act. republicans let him do it and you're allowing it to happen again. why didn't you bring the support act to the floor? something that really meaningfully helps families and communities address the opioid addiction crisis and the fentanyl crisis. second, by standing by and allowing the white house and the justice department to purge f.b.i. agents and c.i.a. personnel, you're taking the cops off the beat who are tracking th

with medicaid, but is uncoupled the. the federal government pays 70% of medicaid across the board.red program to a large extent, it is mostly federally funded program. fraud and abuse and misuse of medicaid is a federal crime. >> john: i want to come to that one and four americans on medicaid and the cost approaching $1 trillion a year which is unsustainable and usaid planning to go through it with a fine-tooth comb. cbs with collaboration with doge. cms has two veterans focused on policy and one on operations for rating for collaboration with doge ensuring appropriate access to seamless systems and technology. we are taking a thoughtful approach to see where opportunities more effective and efficient use of resources with meeting the goals have president trump. do you think there might be a waste, fraud or abuse that doge and covers? >> there is no question. i see that every single day. some places, under medicaid you can rent a wheelchair. there is a lot of services that are not needed. there is no control over it. the same thing with drugs. i call it a sick care system. we spend

are we protecting social security, medicare for medicaid? re: fighting tax relief to working-class americans and middle-class americans and those who aspire to be part of the middle class or will the gop part two take effect for the overwhelming majority of benefits to go to the wealthiest 1% in america next is a questions we make clear to them as provided to the american people. >> the department of education that could be a scaled-back of significant reduction pending. this on the table for you? >> generally house democrats will continue to express our desire to work with anyone to root out waste, fraud and abuse. any aspect of the state of the local or federal government we may have. american people deserve a government that is affected, efficient and equitable. that's the government we will continue to work hard to bring about. the department of education shall has a uniquely important place. nothing more precious than our children and making sure they have high quality school education that we lower class sizes, protect sports, art, mus

programs that real people rely on such as medicaid, snap, and more. so when i heard about this meeting, congress member gwen moore, a fellow member of the ways and means committee, and i, walked straight to the speaker's office to demand to speak with the secretary. this isn't business as usual. that's why we did it. well, they put the speaker in the room to talk to us and then put the treasury secretary off through another door to avoid us. so we speak to speaker johnson and what we learned was shocking. the speaker admitted that he did not know if musk's actions were even legal. or what information his team had access to and was manipulating. but he still refused to take action to stop him. fortunately, a federal court order has ordered musk out of the treasury systems at least in terms of manipulating it, but not in terms of reading it. the danger certainly has not passed. if he remains in our government system, he could unilaterally freeze federal funds for programs that women and families rely on he was may have already stolen women's private, pe

. >> martha: if i may ask you about medicaid and saying there's a ton of waste and medicaid and you heard president trump moments ago saying we will not touch social security but he has said there are a lot of bad people who shouldn't be on the list. something to that effect when it comes to medicaid. what did you find and write about with regard to that? >> the american people, the most generous people in the world. if you are hungry we will feed you and if you are homeless we will house you and if you are to be to report to be sick we will pay for your doctor but it costs money. we are spending about a trillion dollars a year on medicaid and president biden increased it by about 40%. we estimate there is between ten and 30 million people on medicaid who are perfectly able to work. i've got a bill that says if you are between 18 and 55 and you are not disabled and don't have any minor kids at home so not talking about a mother with a sick child in her arms, you've got to work 20 hours a week. that will save us according to cbo about $100 billion over ten years. it's not just about the mo

are we protecting social security, medicare or medicaid? are we providing tax relief to working class americans and middle-class americans and all those who aspire to be part of the middle class or will the g.o.p. tax scam, part two, take effect with the overwhelming majority of benefits will go to the wealthiest 1% of americans. these are questions we made clear to our american colleagues. we look forward to answers being provided to the american people. last question -- last two, i'm sorry. reporter: obviously, the trump administration is getting rid of the department of education. the chances are very slim and obviously you don't support that. but there could be a scale back of the d.o.e. or reduction in spending. is any type of reform to the department of education on the table for you? mr. jeffries: generally house democrats will continue to express our desire to work with anyone in this town to root out waste, fraud and abuse in any federal department or any aspect of the state, local or federal government that we may encounter. the a

the medicaid system went down. a fifth of all people in my state are on medicaid. and it provides critical public health support for the opioid pandemic. if president trump's promise was to bring prices down and keep americans safe, he's failed on both counts, and what he did with this nationwide federal freezing ban, dreamed up by russell vought, failed to keep us safe. when fema grants went down, when they froze the grants to state and local law enforcement, russell vought and president trump were literally defunding the police. let's take a second and look at that again. lots of my colleagues -- i was here on the floor -- lots of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle gave speech after speech about how terrible it would be to ever put at risk law enforcement, federal, state, local, by defunding the police. president trump did two things in his first week that made clear they don't mean this at all. one was pardoning hundreds of individuals who stormed into this chamber and assaulted capitol police officers. pardoning people who assaulted police officers. t

kennedy failed on several occasions to show a basic understanding of medicare and medicaid programs be tasked with overseeing. that alone should be disqualifying. a yes and illegal action. today we are going to make a judgment about the future of science in this country and make decisions that will impact health and well-being of americans for years to come. i agree and i say this to my colleagues on both sides of the aisle healthcare status quo substantial changes to get better, more affordable care to patients and given my statement, that leaves the question, it's pretty simple, do senators want their legacy to include disregarding basic health science and instead elevate the spirit the ferris? health and human services in my view, it would be a grave threat to the health of the american people and i urge my colleagues to vote no. >> we have our members here. we agreed will have two or three on each side who want to make statements do so before the vote. old probably have those made and we will to the boat. >> got several colleagues under the impression that we would have two or thre

and medicaid services. what we've learned is that these different representatives have been granted access to payment and contracting systems, but they have not yet received access to databases containing identifiable health information about medicare and medicaid employees. now, of course, we know that cms, the center for medicare and medicaid services, they have access and kind of oversee the health care coverage of more than 150 million people. so, again, very important data that they are gaining access to. now, we did see elon musk himself respond to some of this reporting. he weighed in on x. he said quote, yeah, this is where the big money fraud is happening. when one person shared the article from the wall street journal on this story, all to say there are so many questions about the influence that musk and also doge are having. we know that they are permeating all of government, and they also are, you know, very integral with what we are seeing with some of those buyouts and layoffs as well. so as t

will doge try to halt social security or medicare or medicaid payments? god forbid, god forbid. will doge cut funding to programs approved by congress that donald trump decides he doesn't like? what about cancer research, food banks, school lunches, veterans aid, literacy programs, small business loans? how do we know doge won't use its access to the treasury to enrich donald trump's billionaire friends? what if they go after business competition of doge's leadership? it is laughably naive to look at the wealthy billionaires who run doge and take them at their word that all they care about is efficiency. give me a break. the treasury department must revoke doge's access to the treasury payment system at once. we must halt this unlawful and dangerous power grab. doge has no business anywhere, anywhere near the federal government's payment systems nor america because a private data system. senator murray. sen. murray: well, we're two weeks in and it is already painfully clear this is the most corrupt administration in our history, and it's putting our economy, our government, and

and end medicaid as we know it. last week with the unlawful office of management and budget order, they made their first move on medicaid. the public rolls up in response and back down in less than 40 hours. but we will never back down in pointing out the types of things that the maga extremists and the far right are trying to do to hurt everyday americans. the people that they claim they were working hard to help. sen. schumer: they've laid out a plan, $2.4 trillion in cuts, something in project 2025 where russell vought was one of the chief architects and something doge talked about. the cuts will be deep. they can't do $2.5 trillion without cutting so many of the things, the vast majority of americans, democrat and republican really care about. reporter: how do you plan to reach out and request a meeting with the president and try to talk to him about your concerns about elon musk, what's the message to the president? sen. schumer: it's the opposite of what he campaigned on and will hurt him across the board, peo

how about medicaid? billion a year and they don't even see it so i would argue if you/the workforce through severance buyouts, you wouldn't notice a difference and it might make services for the federal government improve. >> the president indicated is helping people take advantage because if they do then they leave in the workforce is mueller. what he said is similar to what elon musk said and elon musk produce was able to run it just as efficiently. >> i'm not sure running it efficiently. obviously got rid of a lot of engineers and fact checking folks there but it is the same thing even at the same title. what i see is this proposal has the opposite reaction they intended at least in some cases so federal employees talking about how the buyout made them more motivated to do the job. i've never been more motivated to stay and defend the constitution. great -- [laughter] acting as if nobody who dedicated their life to public service easily replaceable he or not doing their job is a gross position and not

that includes social security, medicare and medicaid. example, this committee voted for a major reform of pharmacy benefit manager legislation. we passed it 26 to nothing, but trump and musk killed it. think what they could do with abuse of the payment system. now, in my view, much of this is of dubious, dubious legality and constitutional authority and certainly flies in the face of congressional responsibilities. i'll wrap up on this point by saying, i hope our colleagues on the other side of the aisle will not sit by while musk and trump make a mockery of the power republicans hold in their congressional majority. now, more than ever, the american people need leaders that will stand up to these abuses. that brings me to mr. kennedy. a recent analysis showed that mr. kennedy has made 114 separate appearances in just the last four years, where he has espoused anti-vaccine views or spread information about the efficacy of vaccines, misinformation, specifically, in 36 of those instances, mr. kennedy directly linked vaccines to autism. las

-- from medicaid. i will note nearly two million marylanders rely on medicaid. up to $71 billion cut from social security. and i will note one in seven marylanders receives social security benefits. by the way, it's so important to note these benefits are not ones that have been given to these marylanders. these are benefits they have earned over a lifetime. $170 billion in cuts to college affordability initiatives. this flies in the face of everything that americans say that they desire. it has never been said that americans want us to cut benefits to our elders, it has never been said that they wanted to cut benefits to those who are did hes abled, who -- disabled who rely on medicaid and others, and it has not been the case that so many young people who voted in this next election cycle hoping to get a government that would make their lives better, instead it is making it worse. 25% of marylanders receive student loans and over 100,000 maryland students receive federal grants in the fy-2023-2024 sch

and end medicaid as we know it. last week with the unlawful office of management and budget order, they made their first move on medicaid. the public rolls up in response and back down in less than 40 hours. but we will never back down in pointing out the types of things that the maga extremists and the far right are trying to do to hurt everyday americans. the people that they claim they were working hard to help. sen. schumer: they've laid out a plan, $2.4 trillion in cuts, something in project 2025 where russell vought was one of the chief architects and something doge talked about. the cuts will be deep. they can't do $2.5 trillion without cutting so many of the things, the vast majority of americans, democrat and republican really care about. reporter: how do you plan to reach out and request a meeting with the president and try to talk to him about your concerns about elon musk, what's the message to the president? sen. schumer: it's the opposite of what he campaigned on and will hurt him across the board, peo

that proposed a budget that would cut medicaid, just medicaid, by $2.1 trillion over ten years. it would slash snap, the food program, by $400 billion. we have people in new hampshire who count on the snap program in order to be able to feed their kids. his proposal would cut funding that helps low-income americans go to college by more than $250 billion. it would eliminate the affordable care act tax credits that help millions of americans afford health care. these are not cutsha lower costs, this does not make it easier for people to be able to afford their rent and their groceries. it's beyond ridiculous that anyone could propose these cuts with a straight face while also supporting trillions of dollars in tax breaks for the wealthiest individuals and corporations in this country. you know, i'm not one to claim that the federal government can't be run more efficiently. i think we can always do everything better, and it's important to all americans to make sure our government runs effectively and efficiently. but indiscriminately freezing hiring across the board and pushing ou

we saw medicaid portals all across the country shut down.nged and unable to meet payroll and other child care centers. this this is devastating to ordinary people all across the state. and i've decided, along with my colleagues that we're not going to take this lying down. we're going to stand up for the people who sent us here. >> how do you manage, in the course of a day, to decide what needs to be addressed, at what moment, for example, you're going through a day and you suddenly get the news that elon musk wants everyone, everyone at the cia to resign, wants them all to resign, wants there to not be a cia next week. how do you respond to that while you're also trying to respond to this? >> no, it's an excellent question. and i think what you've placed your finger on is precisely what they're up to. they are trying to overwhelm us by the sheer pace and pervasiveness of these undemocratic, reckless actions that they are taking. to call it a bull in a china shop is an understatement, and i think that that is clearly the strategy to leave pe

do you understand the various parts of medicare and medicaid? and is that important for the for the hhs secretary to know these things? i think cassidy was not satisfied with the answers he received at that time. but to your question, it's it's it's hhs is is many different agencies, including cdc, including medicare, medicaid, you know, the the agencies that oversee that, it's close to $2 trillion if you count discretionary spending that hhs has control over. so it's really, you know, you think about anything health, science, public health related in this country. and really the impact on the world. it would be under his auspices. >> manu, quickly over to you, because i think i just saw chairman mike crapo sit down. looks like we're going to get started shortly. the pressure here, the political pressure there is, as karoline leavitt laid out, a movement behind kennedy and his nomination. what are you hearing on the hill on that front? >> yeah, no question about it. there would be significant blowback for any member who breaks ranks, particularl

i'm worried about iowans losing the medicaid they voted to expand. 700,000 iowans are on medicaid. gov. reynolds: that is why we made the changes we made. we realigned, eliminated the duplication. it put more money into the program to actually meet the needs. >> talk about what you did. we were talking about what you did. you came to government, may changes with efficiency. but something was brought up even by the chair that i want to bring up that shows the difference between what you did and what is happening at the federal government. you worked with the legislature and passed legislation in your state legislature to make the broadest changes you wanted to make. that is not what is going on right now when we talk about doge and everything else. you even mentioned at the beginning of the hearing you were so proud to say you did this all without massive layoffs. without forcing a large percentage of your workforce to leave because you saw them as valuable. i respect you for that. that is not what is going on at the federal level. let's move on to fema. trump said he wants fema to

and medicaid. musk now has access to americans' confidential tax refund information which includes their names, social security numbers, and home addresses. that's why i'm headed to treasury this evening to stand up for arizonans' privacy and stand up for our democracy. as a member of the house oversight committee, we're calling out this breach of law, privacy, and national security on behalf of the american people. thank you, and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: members are reminded to refrain from engaging towards personalities towards the president. for what purpose does the gentleman from south carolina seek recognition? mr. wilson: i ask unanimous consent to address the house for one minute, and revise and extend my remarks. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. wilson: thank you, mr. speaker. donald trump has been president only two weeks and he's delivering on his promises made, promises kept on behalf of the american people. i know

the centers for medicare and medicaid, that is where a lot of the fraud,ed medicare and medicaid spending the biggest amount of spending in the federal government. it's good to see these things that trump has done, whether in usaid or some of these other departments. but actually that's where, you know that's where the money is as it were. the famous line about the guy who robbed the banks because that's where the money was. it's in these big government programs whereas you say, brian, huge amounts of fraud. we at the "wall street journal" reported on this over the year massive fraud in some of these programs. that is where it's going to be -- going to yield at love the cuts. as you say, the democrats to oppose that, once again, just shows how just as they did when donald trump signed that executive order yesterday, protecting women in sports, that showed you, i think, how much in tune donald trump is and how out of tune the democrats are where they actually opposed those measures and opposing these measures now to bring efficiency and accountability. >> brian: i know you are being fair t

just yesterday, he threatened to go after medicare and medicaid. just yesterday we also learned that head start programs serving 20,000 young students are locked out of their federal funding by elon musk. to be clear, that means that you have a billionaire, the richest person on earth willing to take away your health care, willing to take away kids lunches and meals, willing to take away pre-k, just so that he can finance a tax rate for himself and his billionaire buddies. just last night, elon musk came out and we found out that he is interfering with air traffic control. when muska took over twitter, he repeatedly crashed that platform. it's not a big deal if your app does not load one day. it is a huge deal if you don't know if your plane is going to crash or not. if we don't fight back, elon musk will take dollars away from our public schools, our health care, social security, away from our own safety systems and use the dollars to line his own pockets. we are here fighting for a country that is by and for the people. not by and for the ultrari

he didn't know that medicaid, for instance, covers addiction treatment.t pays for seniors in nursing homes. he didn't know that disabled kids get care through the medicaid program. he was clueless about the medicare program and what different pieces of it what's entailed in different parts of the medicare program. this is not somebody who should be leading the biggest and most important health agency, really, i think, in the world. the last thing i'll just say to you about that is that i heard from a constituent this week who, since she was 11 years old, she's about my age, in her 60s now. i think she's been getting health care through the national institutes of health, cutting edge health care for a rare condition. there are thousands of americans who seek nih health care every year. but he wants to lay people off. he doesn't really know what it does. his cynicism about this role, his cynicism about science, the way he uses it for his own personal fame and benefit is really, really damaging to the cause of science and progress. and it will impact people

i'm worried about iowans losing the medicaid they voted to expand. 700,000 iowans are on medicaid. gov. reynolds: that is why we made the changes we made. we realigned, eliminated the duplication. it put more money into the program to actually meet the needs. >> talk about what you did. we were talking about what you did. you came to government, may changes with efficiency. but something was brought up even by the chair that i want to bring up that shows the difference between what you did and what is happening at the federal government. you worked with the legislature and passed legislation in your state legislature to make the broadest changes you wanted to make. that is not what is going on right now when we talk about doge and everything else. you even mentioned at the beginning of the hearing you were so proud to say you did this all without massive layoffs. without forcing a large percentage of your workforce to leave because you saw them as valuable. i respect you for that. that is not what is going on at the federal level. let's move on to fema. trump said he wants fema to

how does the center for medicare, medicaid determine who gets grant funding for a hospital? right? all of that over the years has been decided as a matter of la, and what russell vought is saying is the president must set and enforce the plan for exact revenge. sadly however a present today assumes office to find a a sprawling federal bureaucracy is all too often carrying out its own policies planes and preferences or worship the policy plans andpr preferences f a radical supposedly woke faction of the country. what's interesting about this document as i have started to read it is it's at all this highlight his stuff and then they just want to go after the left. i guess what this is, right? they are mad because they think certain agencies are two left wing. they think there's a a bunch f people in the government that are too busy like carrying o much about i do know healthcare or women's equality or like children's mental health or i don't know what is considered woke and not because i feel like with the tragic plane crash last week that those words died. those words are now devoid