GOP must cut Medicare and Medicaid to meet budget target: Congressional Budget Office

Republicans will not be able to meet their budget target without making large cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, the Congressional Budget Office said.

In a budget blueprint adopted last week, House Republicans instructed the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which is responsible for federal healthcare spending, to cut funding by $880 billion.

However, the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan in-house think tank that oversees the process, said in a letter outlining the funding figures that the committee only oversees a total of $581 billion in spending apart from Medicare and Medicaid. Even if they cut everything they oversee besides those programs, the cuts would still come $299 billion short of the $880 billion target.

When just Medicare is set aside, the total funding under the committee’s

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