EXCLUSIVE – A self-identified nursing home employee and lifelong Republican who voted for President Donald Trump is urging House GOP lawmakers to avoid making cuts to Medicaid, as he stars in a new seven-figure ad blitz by a pro-Democrat outside group as part of its “Hands off Medicaid” campaign.
The release of the ads by a group called “Protect Our Care” – which they say will run on TV, radio and digital platforms and target 10 House Republicans who may face competitive re-elections next year when the GOP aims to defend its fragile majority – comes as congressional Democrats have increasingly accused Republicans of trying to harm funding for Medicaid as well as Medicare.
The $2 million ad blitz – which was shared first with Fox News Digital on Tuesday – launches as the House is expected to vote on a continuing resolution to fund the federal government in order to avoid an end-of-the-week shutdown of the government and the furlough of tens of thousands of federal workers.
“I look after seniors here at the nursing home. Most of them pay for it through Medicaid. So if Congress goes through with these big cuts to Medicaid, some of our residents will probably have to leave. Most of them will have nowhere else to go,” a man identified in the ad as John B., a certified nurse practioner, says in the TV spot.
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John, who proceeds to place a red “Make America Great Again” cap on his head, says, “look, I’m a Republican. I voted for Donald Trump. But Medicaid should not be a political thing. They need to know cutting it will hurt all of us.”
He then says to the House Republican targeted in the ad that “we’re all counting on you to stop these cuts to Medicaid.”
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Protect Our Care says their ads will run in the districts of Republican Reps. David Schweikert (AZ-01) of Arizona, David Valadao (CA-22), Young Kim (CA-40), and Ken Calvert (CA-41) of California, Nick LaLota (NY-01), Andrew Garbarino (NY-02), and Mike Lawler (NY-17) of New York, Ryan Mackenzie (PA-07), and Rob Bresnahan (PA-08) of Pennsylvania, and Dan Newhouse (WA-04) of Washington State.
House Democrats argue that the Republicans’ government funding bill “does nothing to protect Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.”
Protect Our Care President Brad Woodhouse charged that “if Republicans in Congress move forward with Medicaid cuts, they are turning their backs on their constituents.”
“Republican lawmakers need to look their constituents, and even their own voters like John, in the eye to defend this indefensible plan. Americans across the country and across the political spectrum are depending on Republicans to do the right thing and abandon these cuts to Medicaid,” Woodhouse added.
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The left-leaning Protect Our Care was created to protect the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare, and this year is targeting GOP lawmakers over the possibility of Medicaid cuts. Woodhouse, the group’s president, is a longtime well-known Democratic Party strategist and operative who has previously steered other prominent pro-Democrat groups and who has done multiple tours of duty at the Democratic National Committee.
The group’s latest blitz is part of what Protect Our Care says is a $10 million “Hands Off Medicaid” campaign.
As congressional Republicans aim to reduce the nation’s massive budget deficit and enact Trump’s domestic agenda, some conservative members have mulled changes to Medicaid, the nearly 60-year-old federal government program that provides health insurance for adults and children with limited incomes.
However, Republicans have repeatedly denied that they are aiming for major cuts to Medicaid.
Additionally, a senior House GOP aide, speaking with Fox News Digital, accused House Democrats of “intentionally misleading the American people.”
Mike Marinella, a spokesman with the National Republican Congressional Committee, charged in a statement to Fox News that “Democrats are running the same playbook of resorting to shameless fearmongering and outright lies because they’re trying to hide the fact that they just voted to raise taxes on hardworking Americans. This is a disgusting, pathetic attempt to distract voters from their failures, and they know it.”
While the president is heavily lobbying House Republicans to stay united and support the government spending plan, he has also repeatedly – on the campaign trail last year and since taking over the White House – said that he does not want Congress to touch Medicaid.
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On Tuesday, the White House communications office released an email headlined “President Trump Will Always Protect Social Security, Medicare.”
However, Trump has also repeatedly left the door open to cutting “waste, fraud and abuse,” a line that has been repeated by Republican lawmakers.
Fox News’ Elizabeth Elkind contributed to this report
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