ARCHIVAL (6-16-15):
DONALD TRUMP: Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cuts. Have to do it.

NARRATION: During his campaign, Donald Trump broke ranks with Republicans, promising no cuts to entitlements, including Medicaid, the government’s $500-billion health insurance program serving 70 million low-income Americans.

ARCHIVAL (4-18-15):
DONALD TRUMP: Every Republican wants to do a big number on Social Security, they want to do it on Medicare, they want to do it on Medicaid, and we can’t do that.

NARRATION: But now, the President is reversing himself on Medicaid.  

ARCHIVAL (5-4-17):
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: How’m I doing? Am I doing okay? I’m President.

NARRATION: He is supporting the House Republican health care bill that would cut Medicaid spending by more than $800 billion over 10 years. Now, the president’s 2018 budget proposes an additional $600 billion in cuts, by handing over more control of the program to the states.

It’s not the first time policymakers have tried to reform an expensive entitlement in this way, and for many, that is a cautionary tale.

ARCHIVAL (11-22-95):
NEWT GINGRICH: Let’s talk about what the welfare state has created. Let’s talk about the moral decay.

NARRATION: In the mid-1990s, Republicans were calling for cuts to welfare, as a record 14 million Americans were receiving cash benefits from the government. Then-president Bill Clinton threw his support behind a welfare reform law that brought radical change.

ARCHIVAL (8-22-96):
PRESIDENT BIL CLINTON: Today we are ending welfare as we know it.

NARRATION: Funding was slashed, and new powers were given to the states, which siphoned off billions in welfare money to pay for other things – from pre-K programs to college scholarships.

ARCHIVAL (KNXV-TV, 9-14-15):
NEWS REPORT: The numbers are staggering.

NARRATION: In Arizona, it was foster care.

ARCHIVAL (KNXV-TV, 9-14-15):
NEWS REPORT: Nearly 18,000 kids are in the state system.

NARRATION: Arizona moved 75% of its welfare money into child protection and other services, leaving little for job training, child care and cash assistance for the poor, the core purposes of welfare. Many states also reduced benefits and dropped people from the rolls.

LADONNA PAVETTI (CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES): It’s this expectation that states will do a better job, but a better job doesn’t mean increasing the number of people who are in deep poverty, which is what we saw.  I mean, that’s what states did.

NARRATION: But Republicans still celebrate welfare reform – which cut rolls from 14 million to four – as a model for reining in other entitlements, though some are cautious.

RON HASKINS (REPUBLICAN STAFF DIRECTOR, WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE, 1995-2000): I have to say that what is happening with welfare reform, has caused me to reevaluate my confidence that the states will do the right thing because we have states that are very conservative, and they’re going to spend the money where they think it should be spent, and not where you think it should be spent.

ARCHIVAL (2-27-17):
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We should give our state governors the resources and flexibility they need with Medicaid to make sure no one is left out.

NARRATION: Despite the president’s words, his Medicaid proposal would almost certainly leave people out. If it becomes law, an estimated 14 million low-income Americans could lose their Medicaid coverage.

(END)