Buttigieg and Booker press Republicans over Medicaid cuts and lapsed ACA subsidies

Pete Buttigieg and Senator Cory Booker made separate appearances in La Crosse, Wis., and Estill, S.C., this week to press Republicans over votes that cut Medicaid and allowed enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies to lapse, offering a preview of a Democratic midterm strategy. Both men are described in the reporting as potential 2028 presidential candidates.

Mr. Buttigieg, speaking to about 1,000 people in La Crosse, urged constituents to pressure their Republican congressman, naming Representative Derrick Van Orden and condemning what he called “savage cuts” to Medicaid and efforts to “obliterate” the ACA. Mr. Booker, speaking to about 50 people in rural South Carolina, said it was “the height of cruelty that the richest nation in the world should not be able to afford basic health care for its people.” The article notes that nearly every House and Senate Republican voted for President Trump’s domestic policy bill last year, which included major cuts to Medicaid, and that efforts in December to extend enhanced ACA subsidies failed, causing those subsidies to expire at the end of 2025.

A report cited in the coverage found 1.4 million fewer people enrolled in Obamacare coverage this year, and some House Republicans in competitive districts broke with their party to vote with Democrats to restore the subsidies while Senate talks have stalled. Democrats are hoping to use the issue to sway voters this fall, drawing a parallel to the 2018 midterms, but the outcome is uncertain.

Key Topics

Politics, Pete Buttigieg, Cory Booker, Medicaid, Affordable Care Act, Derrick Van Orden