This moment came during a closed-door meeting with House Republicans on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, as Trump tried to win support for the bill.
According to sources quoted by the news outlet NOTUS, Trump told Republicans that they must avoid touching Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security if they wanted to keep their seats in the next election.
But then, one of the lawmakers in the room interrupted and said, “But we’re touching Medicaid in this bill.”
Trump, according to three people who were present, looked confused and surprised — as if this was news to him.
What Is This “One Big Beautiful Bill”?
Trump has been pushing for a massive bill that includes big tax cuts for businesses and middle-class families.
The bill also increases spending in areas like infrastructure, defense, and border security. But to make up for the lost money from tax cuts, the bill reduces spending in other areas — and that’s where Medicaid and food assistance come in.
The bill, if passed, would:
Cut billions of dollars from Medicaid over the next ten years
Reduce funding for food stamps (SNAP), which helps millions of families afford groceries
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO):
11.8 million Americans would lose their health coverage by 2034
3 million more people would no longer qualify for food stamps
Medicaid is a government program that helps cover healthcare costs for low-income families, children, elderly people, and people with disabilities.
It was expanded under President Obama’s Affordable Care Act, helping over 70 million people in America today.
SNAP, or the food stamp program, helps more than 40 million people in the U.S. put food on the table. Most of them already have jobs, but they don’t earn enough to fully support their families.
So when these programs are cut, real people feel the pain — especially those already struggling to get by.
One big problem with this situation is the mixed message coming from Trump and his team.
While Trump told Republicans not to touch Medicaid, his bill clearly does just that.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson denied that the bill harms poor Americans. She said the bill actually protects Medicaid by removing waste, fraud, and abuse.
“President Trump is committed to protecting Medicaid for the vulnerable Americans who rely on it most,” she told NOTUS.
But many lawmakers — even from Trump’s own party — aren’t buying it.
One of the loudest critics was Senator Thom Tillis from North Carolina, who gave a strong speech on the Senate floor before the bill passed the Senate. He told Trump directly:
“I’m telling the president that you have been misinformed. Supporting this bill will hurt people who truly need Medicaid.”
Tillis announced afterward that he would not run for re-election, a move that some say shows his disappointment in the party’s direction.
Even though Tillis and a few other Republicans opposed the bill, it still passed the Senate — with a tie-breaking vote from Vice President JD Vance.
The bill is now in the House of Representatives, where some Republicans remain unsure whether they will support it.
As of Wednesday afternoon, the bill had not advanced due to concerns from lawmakers about cutting key benefits.
If the House makes changes, the bill will go back to the Senate for approval again. If no changes are made and it passes, it will become law — and the effects on healthcare and food benefits could be massive.
This strange moment — where Trump didn’t even seem to know what was in his own bill — has raised new questions about how laws are made and how closely leaders read the details.
For millions of Americans, especially the most vulnerable, this is not just politics. This is about their medicine, their food, their lives.
Trump built his political brand promising to protect working Americans and their safety nets. But this bill seems to go against those promises. Whether that was a mistake, a miscommunication, or something else — only time will tell.
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