President Donald Trump moved to slash the government's Medicaid funding for Puerto Rico by $6.3 billion as part of the government's larger spending bill, according to sources with knowledge of the talks.
According to a budget deal unveiled this week, $5.7 billion in Medicaid funds has been allocated for the island territory over the next two years, rather than $12 billion over four years, the plan Republican and Democratic leaders on House Energy and Commerce Committee and the Senate Finance Committee had endorsed, reports Politico.
Criticism has flown between Puerto Rico and Trump for some time. The president has accused the island of being one of the "most corrupt places on Earth," and Puerto Rican officials have lambasted him, particularly after the response to Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Puerto Rico's latest funding expires Friday. Its Medicaid program has been operating under several short-term funding extensions after a temporary boost in money was set to expire Sept. 30.
Arguing it was too much money, Trump balked at spending the $12 billion, three of Politico's sources said. Chase Jennings, a spokesperson for the White House Office of Management and Budget, praised the funding cuts for Puerto Rico, calling them a "win for President Trump and the American people."
"With the historical waste we have faced in Puerto Rico, additional funding was not needed or fiscally responsible," Jennings said.
Officials in Puerto Rico, though, said they are "pleased" to have gotten the two-year extension, saying it plans to continue toward a longer-term solution.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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