Sen. Tom Tillis (R-NC) made an impassioned plea Wednesday to his Republican colleagues to “fix” provisions in President Donald Trump’s budget reconciliation package that are projected to kick 15 million people off of Medicaid over 10 years, warning that the cuts will put “Trump’s legacy at risk.”

“The reason I came to the floor today on the birthday of Medicaid is to say I believe the president does not want to harm qualified beneficiaries of Medicaid – this bill will in its current form,” Tillis said, speaking on the Senate floor. “…There’s a way to fix it, but if we don’t fix it, I believe that our president’s legacy is at risk.”

Tillis was one of the few Republicans to defy Trump on his budget reconciliation package, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” citing concerns over its impact on Medicaid and food assistance programs. He announced his retirement just days before the Senate passed the megabill amid growing scrutiny from the White House, but after voting against the measure.

Now, he’s imploring his Republican Senate colleagues to join him during his last 17 months in office to “fix” the bill’s gutting of Medicaid, warning that the cuts could end up becoming “Republicans’ Obamacare,” former President Barack Obama’s chief legislative accomplishment that is frequently trashed by Republicans.

The OBBBA originally passed out of the House with a projected increase to the national debt of $2.4 trillion over 10 years, but was modified in the Senate with additional tax cuts and cuts to Medicaid funding, cuts that increased the impact on the national debt by about $900 billion over ten years.

“The policy that the House sent us in the reconciliation bill was good policy for Medicaid; it had a work requirement, which I support, it had all kinds of policies for waste, fraud and abuse that made sense and it saves $100 billion every 10 years,” Tillis said.

“But then somebody in the White House tried to convince the Senate that they should up the ante for $200 billion more in revenue to pass policy that will have, I think, irreputable damage, not only in the policy, but the politics. But we have time to fix it.”

Now able to vote without fear of political retribution, Tillis went on to pledge to devote his remaining time as a member of Congress to “righting the mistake” that was the OBBBA’s significant cuts to Medicaid, and implored both Republicans and Democrats to join him in those efforts.

“So I want the president of the United States, my colleagues in the Senate body to know I am unbridled by any political considerations for the next 17 months, and I stand ready to work with my Republican colleagues and Democrats who are willing to be bipartisan and do something right for our health care policy to get this right,” he said.

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