Despite the insistence of House Republican Study Committee members and other conservatives that Medicare and other entitlements must be reformed as a part of genuine tax reform, the president will keep his promise to preserve Medicare in the form it is now.
That’s what Marc Short, the top White House liaison to Congress, told Newsmax on Tuesday morning. Short spoke to me at a press breakfast in Washington, D.C., hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
Previously, Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker, R-N.C., said that he and fellow conservatives in the House generally agree with Trump on budget issues except for disagreeing on reform of Medicare.
In addition, Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., said last week that he hoped to change Trump’s mind “to support reforming [entitlements] rather than trying to keep them as they are.”
Short, however, told me that the president “will keep his promise to the people” and won’t overhaul or make cuts in Medicare or Medicaid.
He added that the recent effort in Congress to repeal and replace “was the best opportunity to achieve reform of Medicaid.”
Now, however, the debate in Congress will be on taxes and the budget and, in Short’s words, “the president has put forward a responsible budget.” Its enactment, he added, will permit him to “keep his promise to the people” to preserve entitlements.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.