Democrats (and, sadly, a few Republicans on the Senate side) have thrown around a number of false or misleading claims about the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” with many of them centered around so-called “cuts to Medicaid” in the House and Senate versions of the bill.
In reality, what would get cut back on is the waste, fraud, and abuse in the current Medicaid system, with illegal immigrants no longer being eligible to receive Medicaid benefits, and work requirements being put in place as well.
While President Trump is understandably pleased about the Senate passing their version of the bill on Tuesday, Democrats are pitching fits, including former Clintonista Paul Begala, who had a meltdown on CNN’s “The Arena” program earlier, declaring that the bill’s eventual passage and signing into law was going to destroy the GOP in the midterms because it allegedly hurt the people who voted for them.
“Republicans carried people on Medicaid, they won their votes, and this is what gets me: Smart politicians reward people who vote for them,” Begala proclaimed. “This bill is a political suicide note for the Republican Party.”
What Begala wasn’t counting on, however, was significant pushback from GOP strategist Scott Jennings, who first reminded Begala (and thanked him) for Bill Clinton’s initial backing for work requirements for Medicaid recipients back when he was president:
Watch as Begala continually tried to interrupt Jennings as he was spouting off facts:
CNN Democrat Paul Begala claims there “something in Republican DNA” that makes them “lie awake at night, unable to sleep, worried that somewhere someone who’s a working person is getting health care.”
Scott Jennings schools Begala by reminding him that Bill Clinton thought up… pic.twitter.com/yBMAwCXvJS
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) July 1, 2025
In another clip, Jennings zinged Begala after another doomsday prediction about the GOP in the midterms by reminding him that “We’re not cutting Medicaid for the people who voted for us. We’re cutting Medicaid for the people who vote for Democrats, the illegal aliens.” Begala laughed, but Jennings was not finished:
“We’re not cutting Medicaid for the people who voted for us. We’re cutting Medicaid for the people who vote for Democrats, the illegal aliens. That’s who we’re cutting Medicaid for. Look, we’re cutting — the only thing we’re cutting here is taxes…Why are you fighting so hard to protect welfare benefits for — for illegal aliens? For illegal aliens! Why do you — why would Democrats fight so hard to keep illegal aliens on welfare?”
Boom! Watch:
CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY to Paul Begala: “We’re not cutting Medicaid for the people who voted for us. We’re cutting Medicaid for the people who vote for Democrats, the illegal aliens. That’s who we’re cutting Medicaid for. Look, we’re cutting — the only thing we’re cutting here is… pic.twitter.com/BgPPYJgjjN
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 1, 2025
Lastly, Jennings reminded Begala that the Democrats’ record on “doomcasting” was “not so good”:
“I’ll just remind you that, in 2017, when Donald Trump passed the massive tax cuts, the word ‘the apocalypse’ was used by Democrats. And what happened? The economy boomed. We had more money flowing into the federal coffers. Everything was fine. I think the credibility — the credibility — the credibility of Democrats on doomcasting? It’s not so good. Not so good.”
Watch:
CNN’s @ScottJenningsKY: “I’ll just remind you that, in 2017, when Donald Trump passed the massive tax cuts, the word ‘the apocalypse, was used by Democrats. And what happened? The economy boomed. We had more money flowing into the federal coffers. Everything was fine. I think the… pic.twitter.com/0UQmXTalbN
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) July 1, 2025
As RedState’s Joe Cunningham reported earlier, there is still much to be done to get Senate Republicans and House Republicans somewhere close to being on the same page on the OBBB, especially in order to meet Trump’s pushed-for deadline of Independence Day. We’ll keep a track of what develops, and will bookmark this quote from Begala and revisit once the midterms shake out next year.
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