‘We are not cutting Medicaid’: Mike Johnson says young men choosing not to work while taking benefits are ‘cheating the system’

“We are not cutting Medicaid in this package,” Johnson said Sunday during an appearance on CNN’s State of the Union. “There’s a lot of misinformation out there about this.”

Johnson emphasized that the goal is to protect Medicaid for vulnerable Americans by removing those who should not be receiving benefits, such as illegal immigrants and able-bodied adults who are not working.

“You’ve got more than 1.4 million illegal aliens on Medicaid,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper. “Medicaid is not intended for non-US citizens. It’s intended for the most vulnerable populations of Americans, which is pregnant women and young single mothers, the disabled, the elderly. They are protected in what we’re doing because we’re preserving the resources for those who need it most.”

The budget bill proposes new eligibility rules for childless adults aged 19 to 64. To remain on Medicaid, they would be required to work, attend school, or volunteer at least 80 hours per month.

“You’re talking about 4.8 million able-bodied workers, young men for example, who are on Medicaid and not working,” Johnson said. “They are choosing not to work when they can. That is called fraud. They are cheating the system. When you root out those kinds of abuses, you save the resources that are so desperately needed by the people who deserve it and need it most."

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the Medicaid provisions in the GOP’s budget bill would save $625 billion over a ten year period.

“I’ll go into any town hall anywhere in America, my district or otherwise, and explain this,” Johnson added. “We are the party about [sic] that supports human dignity, and we find purpose and dignity in our work: It’s good for the individuals involved; it’s good for their community; it’s good for society at large.”

The budget bill, dubbed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” was passed by the House on Thursday. It now heads to the Senate, where lawmakers have vowed to make big changes. Still, fiscal conservatives in Congress have continued to argue the need for substantial cuts to address the growing national debt.