In Virginia on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called out Republicans for their desire to cut federal spending, which could include rolling back the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, contrasting them with his own economic and health care agendas.

What You Need To Know

  • In Virginia on Tuesday, President Joe Biden called out Republicans for their desire to cut federal spending, which could include rolling back the Affordable Care Act and Medicaid, contrasting them with his own economic and health care agendas

  • Biden traveled to Virginia Beach a week before he is set to release his comprehensive budget proposal on March 9

  • Republicans have called for less federal spending this year – and they’ve refused to vote to raise the country’s debt limit until the Biden administration agrees; their desired cuts could include health care programs

  • The ACA protects more than 100 million people with preexisting conditions, and Medicaid covers 84 million Americans across the country

Biden traveled to Virginia Beach a week before he is set to release his comprehensive budget proposal on March 9. One of the annual duties of Congress is to negotiate, tweak and pass a budget to fund the government through the next year.

But Republicans have called for less federal spending this year – and they’ve refused to vote to raise the country’s debt limit until the Biden administration agrees, which threatens to put the country into default this summer. 

The GOP has yet to publish a list of cuts they’d like to see, but the White House this week pointed out that it’s almost sure to include slashes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. 

"Republicans have been trying to undo the Affordable Care Act since it passed 13 years ago," Biden said to a crowd of health care workers and local residents on Tuesday. "They voted to change or repeal the act ... more than 50 times in four years."

He said the most extreme proposals come from what he called "MAGA" Republicans, or those who most align with former president Donald Trump.

"There's an awful lot of really good Republicans, but the MAGA Republicans are a different breed of cat," he said.

With Democrats in control of the Senate and the White House, any GOP effort to cut the programs would not become law. But Biden's highlighting of major differences with Republicans comes as he is expected to launch a reelection campaign this spring.

The ACA protects more than 100 million people with preexisting conditions from being denied care, plus it requires insurance plans to cover things like preventive care and limit out-of-pocket costs.

The White House also warned there could be deep cuts to Medicaid, which covers roughly 84 million people and has grown by 20 million since January 2020, just before the start of the coronavirus pandemic.

Any changes to Medicaid would be detrimental to places like rural hospitals or nursing homes, for example, Biden said, where people rely on the coverage.

"Too many folks don't have that peace of mind. Too many folks lie in bed at night staring at the ceiling, wondering what will happen if their spouse gets cancer, their child gets sick or something happens to them," he added.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., meanwhile, has ruled out cuts to Social Security and Medicare, other benefits that Biden has warned could be at risk with a GOP majority.

Rep. Jen Kiggans, R-Va., whose district the president visited on Tuesday, said in a video that "health care should never be a partisan issue."

Kiggans is a geriatric nurse practitioner.

"They've spent their entire lives paying into programs like Social Security and Medicare, with the promise that the government will pay them back one day. And that's a promise that I intend to keep," she said. "I certainly know how important these programs are to our seniors."

But it’s not clear yet where McCarthy and other House Republicans would like to roll back federal spending.

“The president believes that they owe the American people transparency about what that will mean, and if they won't provide it, he will,” Aviva Aron-Dine, deputy director of the National Economic Council, said of Biden's planned remarks at a recreation center. 

Biden is expected to build on that message in a meeting with House Democrats in Baltimore on Wednesday and before Senate Democrats on Thursday. 

For his part, the president has in part worked to lower prescription drug prices. The sweeping health care, tax and climate bill passed by only Democrats last year capped drug costs for seniors and lowered the price of insulin to $35 per month for people on Medicare. Biden was not successful in an effort to cap insulin costs for the broader population.

"It's a win-win. It saves taxpayers money and makes Medicare stronger and reduces government spending overall," he said. "This is historic progress."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.