‘He Is Just Wrong’: White House Slams Republican Senator Who Called Out Trump’s Bill For Cutting Medicaid

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was pressed during Monday’s briefing on Sen. Thom Tillis’s (R-NC) barn burner of a speech over the weekend, accusing President Donald Trump of betraying his voters with cuts to Medicaid.

“Yeah, thanks, Karoline. What is the White House’s response to Senator Tillis’s criticism, articulated from the Senate floor yesterday, in which he said passing the big, beautiful bill would betray President Trump’s promise to protect Medicaid?” a reporter asked Leavitt.

“Well, he is just wrong, and the president and the vast majority of Republicans who are supportive of this legislation are right. This bill protects Medicaid, as I laid out for you, for those who truly deserve this program, the needy, pregnant women, children, sick Americans who physically cannot work,” Leavitt replied, adding:

And what it does is it ensures that able-bodied Americans who can work 20 hours a week are doing so and that will therefore strengthen and protect those benefits for Americans who need it, as well as cutting out the waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as getting 1.4 million illegal aliens off of the program. So all of those measures are actually going to protect it for those who need it. That’s the President’s position, and that’s what this bill does, and that’s why Republicans need to vote for it and get it to the President’s desk.

“Criticism from a Republican senator. Is that reason for concern for the passage of this?” followed up the reporter.

“No, it’s not. We’re confident this bill is going to be back at the White House by the 4th of July,” replied Leavitt.

Tillis took the Senate floor on Sunday and bashed President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful’ budget bill. “It is inescapable this bill will betray the promise Donald Trump made,” Tillis said. “I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed, ‘You supporting the Senate mark-up will hurt people who are eligible and qualified for Medicaid.’”

Tillis spoke after announcing he would not seek reelection, following a primary threat from Trump over Tillis’s opposition to the bill. Tillis warned that Trump’s proposal would remove some 663,000 North Carolina residents from Medicaid in the upcoming years. Other Republicans, like Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), also opposed the bill’s slashing of Medicaid, but ultimately bowed to pressure and voted for the bill.

Watch the clip above via Fox News.