Washington, D.C -- Today, the House Budget Committee rejected the Republican tax plan, which will kick 13.7 million Americans off of their healthcare, by a vote of 21-16, with all Democrats and five Republicans voting against. During the committee’s consideration of the bill, Representative Peters urged his colleagues who have traditionally preached fiscal conservatism to reject the bill because it adds to the massive government debt and annual deficits. Many of the Republicans who voted no echoed Rep. Peters’ fiscal concerns. The Budget Committee is expected to reconsider the legislation on Sunday evening.

During his remarks, Rep. Peters stated, “Unfortunately, this is from a budget perspective, a disaster for the United States, despite the flowery language you hear. Every year this country has been racking up $2 trillion of debt because we don't pay our expenses. And that means, the national debt, unless we do something about that, will grow from 36 to 38 to 40 to 42 trillion. And despite all the cuts you hear about, none of them are applied to lowering that annual deficit number that adds to our national debt, not any of them.” 

He continued, “Scott Besant, the Treasury Secretary, says we need to get our deficits down to 3% of GDP to dig out of this hole. Today, without this law, that's going to take about $7 trillion of savings and revenues over the next 10 years. But when you add in the cost of this bill, this budget busting bill, that number goes to $11 to $12 trillion, we're going to have to save over the next 10 years. This is not going in the right direction at all. 

And he concluded, “The tax gap, the difference between what is owed and what we collect, is $697 billion. And what are we doing about that? We see DOGE cutting the IRS's ability to collect taxes. This is irresponsible. It's the wrong thing to do budget. We need a bipartisan process that deals with this honestly, with revenues and cuts. We don't have it. Please vote this down.” 

Representative Peters is the co-author of the Fiscal Commission Act, legislation to create a bicameral, and open-doored commission to tackle our nation’s long-term debt, help us avoid automatic and across-the-board cuts to Social Security and Medicare, and secure a more prosperous future for our children. 

CA-50 Medicaid Facts:  

1.       156,100 people in the district rely on Medicaid for health coverage—that’s 20 percent of all district residents. 

a.       34,700 children in the district are covered by Medicaid. 

b.       17,700 seniors in the district are covered by Medicaid. 

c.       64,900 adults in the district have Medicaid coverage through Medicaid expansion—that includes pregnant women who are able to access prenatal care sooner because of Medicaid expansion, parents, caretakers, veterans, people with substance use disorder and mental health treatment needs, and people with chronic conditions and disabilities. 

2.       At least five hospitals in the district had negative operating margins in 2022. These hospitals would be especially hard-hit by cuts to Medicaid. For example: 

a.       Scripps Mercy Hospital had a negative 25.3 percent operating margin—and nearly 22 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 

b.       Sharp Coronado Hospital had a negative 3.5 percent operating margin—and over 36 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 

c.       University of California San Diego Medical Center had a negative 2.4 percent operating margin—and nearly 19 percent of its revenue came from Medicaid. 

3.       There are 54 health center delivery sites in the district that serve 529,944 patients. 

4.       Those health centers and patients rely on Medicaid—statewide, 69 percent of health center patients rely on Medicaid for coverage. 

5.       Health centers will not be able to stay open and provide the same care that they do today, with more uninsured and underinsured patients. They are already operating on thin margins—in 2023, nationally, nearly half of health centers had negative operating margins. 

6.       Medicaid cuts put health centers at risk, including: 

a.       Family Health Centers of San Diego 

b.       Neighborhood Healthcare 

c.       North County Health Project 

d.       San Diego American Indian Health Centers 

e.       St. Vincent De Paul Village 

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