Ron Wyden Asks Trump HHS Nominee Point Blank: 'Are You In Favor Of Cutting Medicaid?'

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During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Tuesday, Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) spoke about whether the HHS Nominee is in favor of cutting Medicaid

Transcript

00:00Senator Wyden. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair. Mr. O'Neill, let me start with with you.

00:09Republicans are trying to rush through now the largest cuts to Medicaid in history,

00:18yet I have been trying to figure out the positions of Republicans on Medicaid and I'd like to see if

00:26you could help us. Your colleagues sitting next to you, Mr. Andres, signed off on a House Budget

00:31Committee wish list of more than $2 trillion in Medicaid cuts. Senator Hawley, on the floor of

00:39the Senate, joined me in an amendment to strike Republican Medicaid cuts from their budget.

00:46Mehmet Oz, who now oversees CMS, came before the committee and he endorsed taking nurses

00:55out of nursing homes. That's a Medicaid cut. And Donald Trump said if Republicans in their bill cut

01:02Medicaid, he wouldn't approve it. He said he would veto it. And my friend and seatmate over here has

01:10repeatedly said that he's not for cutting Medicaid. So those are five separate positions with respect to

01:18one of the biggest health decisions facing our country in years and years. Since we're trying to sort

01:27all this out, you'd be the nominee for the number two spot at HHS. Why don't you give us a hand? Why don't

01:35you tell us what the Republican position on these Medicaid cuts is, since I just told you there were five,

01:42five separate positions on Medicaid. What can you tell us about what the position actually is? Because

01:50it's coming up quick. Thank you for the question, Senator. By the way, I really enjoyed our phone call

01:56last week. Thank you for taking the time. So, you know, not every member of every party always agrees.

02:04That's why we have so many wonderful members of this chamber and the other chamber.

02:09We have so many wonderful members of this chamber. People are allowed to have their own opinions about

02:14the best way to move forward. So Medicaid was created in the 60s to serve some very vulnerable

02:19populations that really needed help. It's important that it continue to serve those populations. I think

02:24that should always be its focus. Well, my time is very short. Why don't you tell me, since you're not

02:30answering my question about the five different positions, do you support cutting Medicaid? Yes or no?

02:36Senator, I was not involved in the House proposal that you're... I asked you about you. Do you support

02:45cutting Medicaid? Senator... So yes or no question? I support focusing Medicaid on protecting the most

02:52vulnerable populations, the ones that it was created to support in the 1960s. I think it should always...

02:58I'm going to move on. Let the record show that I asked you. Yes or no. Do you support cutting Medicaid?

03:03You did not answer. Mr. Andres, same question. Yes or no?

03:11Senator, I'm not sure that that can be answered in a yes or no way. The budget proposal that you referred to

03:19originally was really a set of options that were developed by a host of different people, including

03:27the Congressional Budget Office. Right, I understand that, but you want a key position

03:32in the healthcare field, and you're going to be shaping healthcare policy in a very dramatic way.

03:37So I'm just trying to figure out what you guys actually think, because I said there are five separate

03:42positions. So why don't you tell me, yes or no, are you in favor of cutting Medicaid?

03:47So if you're talking about taking away benefits from the most vulnerable people in this country,

03:53the answer would be no. But that is like the argument that was made on the floor of the Senate,

03:58and would open up the prospect for cutting a lot of other Medicaid services to a lot of other people.

04:04Do you want to answer yes or no, whether you're for cutting Medicaid?

04:08Well, I thought I'd just answer that, for cutting benefits to most vulnerable people?

04:12That would open up a way, because the question of what constitutes a vulnerable person isn't defined

04:19by law. So this is code for cutting benefits, and that's what you've said. Question for you,

04:23Mr. O'Neill, before my time is up. I was recently in Medford, and what I had to deal with there

04:30is the fact that the Head Start benefits for folks there had essentially been frozen,

04:39and I had to unfreeze them. So people were ecstatic that I was there, and we made all these calls

04:46to the Administration for Children and Families. But they're worried about what's going to happen now,

04:51because it's not clear that the Administration will support Head Start in the future. Can you explain

04:59to Oregon families why your department would be putting those young people and those young families

05:04at risk? Senator, I don't work at the Department. I'm not aware of any decision to reduce Head Start.

05:16If confirmed, I would definitely be involved in any decision like that. Well, do you support Head Start

05:22or not? Are you for cutting that, too? Senator, I do. I had the pleasure of working with Head Start

05:29when I was at HHS before. We were always looking for ways to make it better and for ways to improve

05:37early childhood development through a variety of means. I think those continue to be essential goals.

05:41I'm going to hold the record open so that you can answer my question, yes or no. I'm glad that you're

05:48interested in all kinds of, you know, concepts about Head Start. But what I saw in Medford is that the

05:55program had been frozen. People were going to get hurt until I stepped in. We got that resolved,

06:01but they're still worried. I'll hold the record open. And with respect to the questions I've asked you,

06:06if you want to answer directly a yes or no question, I'll look forward to it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you.

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