Health care advocates and labor unions mobilize against proposed cuts, pressuring swing-district Republicans with protests, ads and town halls.
House Republicans passed a budget plan this week that could slash up to $880 billion over 10 years from Medicaid, a program that provides health insurance to 83 million low-income Americans. For the past several months, health care advocates have been ramping up pressure on three vulnerable California Republicans in Congress — Reps. Ken Calvert, Young Kim and David Valadao — urging them to break ranks and reject those cuts when the final budget comes up for a vote in the coming months.
All nine of California’s Republican representatives voted in February to advance the GOP’s budget blueprint, which calls for massive cuts to Medicaid. But of the nine, Calvert, Kim and Valadao won their seats in 2024 by the narrowest margins — 3, 11 and 7 percentage points, respectively.
Health care advocacy groups and unions that represent health care workers are hoping to take advantage of their vulnerability by energizing voters in their districts to demand they vote against Medicaid cuts or else face massive backlash when up for reelection in 2026.
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