Former Clinton official reminded of which Dem president backed work requirements for Medicaid

(Daily Caller News Foundation) – Republican strategist Scott Jennings told former Clinton administration official Paul Begala Tuesday that former President Bill Clinton previously pushed for work requirements for Medicaid recipients.

The Senate passed a reconciliation bill by a 51-50 vote Tuesday, with Vice President J.D. Vance breaking the tie in his capacity as president of the Senate. Begala predicted that passage of the legislation, which would make the Trump tax cuts permanent, would be a “death knell” for Republicans in the midterm elections.

“This would be the biggest cut in Medicaid in American history. Medicaid is very popular, by the way. Republicans carried people on Medicaid, they won their votes and this is what gets me: Smart politicians reward people who vote for them. Great politicians reach out to people who didn’t vote for them and bring them in,” Begala said. “But stupid politicians punish their voters. This bill is a political suicide note for the Republican Party.”

“Last time they tried this, the Democrats won 41 House seats after Trump’s first midterm,” Begala continued. “They’ll exceed that this time, 489 days. They‘ll do better than 41. This is an absolute death knell for the House Republicans.”

The reconciliation bill also includes provisions slashing over $1.6 trillion in spending, with reforms to Medicaid in the bill, including work requirements for certain recipients of benefits.

“I should have started my remarks by thanking you, because it was President Bill Clinton in the 90s that thought of work requirements for Medicaid, which is all we‘re doing here. They already do it,” Jennings said as Begala tried to interrupt him. “You did it in the 90s.”

“If you want to get up and go to work? You’re going to get your Medicaid,” Jennings continued. “And if you’re an illegal alien, you’re not going to get Medicaid. Everybody else is going to be fine. Generational welfare reform built on your all’s ideas. So, I thank you. I sincerely thank you.”

President Bill Clinton campaigned on welfare reform in 1992, but twice vetoed welfare reform legislation before ultimately capitulating and signing a third version of the bill in the summer of 1996.

“The people who work, the people who are trying, the people who need it, the people who are taking care of kids and other family members, those people are protected,” Jennings said. “We’re protecting the safety net from those who are gaming the system, or shouldn’t even be in the country legally at all.”