As the White House began the courtship of conservatives Wednesday as part of its plan to secure tax reform, Republican Rep. David Schweikert told Newsmax he hopes to change the president's mind on Medicare and Medicaid reform.
“I hope to change his mind to support reforming them rather than trying to keep them as they are,” said Schweikert, a four-term lawmaker and member of the House Ways and Means Committee.
He spoke to us following a meeting of national conservative leaders who had just heard Ivanka Trump, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Schweikert himself make the case for the Trump tax reform agenda.
The onetime Maricopa County, Arizona treasurer, however, was the lone figure at the meeting (held at the Washington headquarters of Americans for Tax Reform) who openly advocates overhauling Medicaid and Medicare.
“The reality is in the math,” he told Newsmax. “The graying of America means the ability to pay for both of those entitlements is eventually going to hit a wall. The taxes to fund them is paid increasingly by younger American workers and that will mean that taxes will go up on those who are not going to be eligible for the entitlements for many years.”
Throughout his campaign, candidate Trump insisted that Medicare and Medicaid as well as Social Security would be preserved in their present forms.
In July, Republican Study Committee Chairman Mark Walker, R-N.C., told me he and fellow conservatives in the House generally agreed with Trump on budget issues except for disagreeing on reforming of Medicare.
When Newsmax asked White House press secretary Sarah Sanders if the president was willing to negotiate about changes to entitlements, she responded she would “get back to you.”
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.