Central Illinois Republican congressman Darin LaHood says a reconciliation bill the U.S. House approved last week will boost the economy by putting more people to work.
The budget adds a work requirement for Medicaid, the health care program for low-income, elderly and disabled Americans that faces nearly $700 billion in cuts.
“Whether you call that a cut to Medicaid or a transition to a job, that’s clearly included here, but I think that’s something we ought to be doing,” LaHood said in an interview on WGLT’s Sound Ideas. “The best social service program in the country is a job.”
Democrats say those cuts would put safety-net hospitals, especially in rural areas, at risk of closing.
Many protesters have staged rallies across the country, including some outside LaHood's offices in Normal, to protest the proposed cuts to Medicaid. When asked if Republicans would pay a political price for enacting such steep cuts,
LaHood noted the spending reductions did not go as far as the budget plan initially proposed and that he listened to hospital administrators before he cast his vote.
“If you listen to what people thought was going to happen to Medicaid, that everyone was going to be cut off Medicaid, there would be real damage to the program, that didn’t happen,” he said.
Tax cuts
LaHood also cheers the tax provisions included in the so-called Big Beautiful Bill Act that would extend the Trump 2017 tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year. It also would eliminate taxes on tips and offer a tax deduction on car loans.
“These are not particularly taxes that benefit the rich in any way. I would argue they help the working poor and working families across the country,” LaHood said.
The Congressional Budget Office projects the tax cuts, when paired with cuts to safety net programs, would hurt the lowest-income earners and help the highest-income earners.
"The changes would not be evenly distributed among households," the report said.
The bill includes an expansion of affordable housing tax credits, which LaHood first proposed three years ago.
The reconciliation bill, which passed in the House by a 215-214 vote, awaits a vote in the Senate.
Tariffs
LaHood said he wants President Trump to call off his trade wars with Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
“We should use tariffs to go after bad actors like China, but [they] ought to be used in a strategic and tactical way and I think the sooner we can pause tariffs with our like-minded allies, the better,” LaHood said.
Trump threatened a 50% tariff on all goods coming from the European Union, after easing up tariffs against China. Trump later delayed those tariffs until July to continue negotiations.
Senate
LaHood said he'll announce soon whether he will run for U.S. Senate next year.
Democrat Dick Durbin is not seeking re-election after serving in the Senate for nearly three decades.
LaHood noted Senate seats don't open very often.
“I’ve gotten encouragement to look at the U.S. Senate seat. I think there’s an appetite for a Republican senator to represent the state of Illinois,” LaHood said. “So I’m going to continue to listen to my constituents, people that I have respect for and I’ll make a decision on that relatively shortly.”
Multiple Democratic candidates, including Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, Rep. Robin Kelly and Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi have announced plans to run for the seat.
LaHood represents parts of Bloomington-Normal and much of western central and northern Illinois in the 16th Congressional District.
