Back from DC, Michigan GOP leader backs Medicaid, food assistance cuts

• Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall backs federal push to cut Medicaid and food assistance spending, which could complicate state budget
• Comments follow a Tuesday trip to Washington, where Hall and other legislators met with Trump administration officials
• The trip came amid tense state budget negotiations. Upon return, Hall was expected to meet with Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks

LANSING — Michigan House Speaker Matt Hall is “very supportive” of proposed federal spending cuts on Medicaid and food assistance despite the potential budget implications for the state, he said Wednesday following meetings in Washington with members of the Trump administration.

“I’m not convinced that the Whitmer administration is doing all of the proper checks that are needed to ensure that only eligible people are receiving welfare programs: whether it’s food stamps, whether it’s Medicaid, whether it’s cash assistance,” Hall, R-Richland Township, told reporters. 

Hall spoke at length about his support for the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which is backed by President Donald Trump and would scale back some spending to partially offset the cost of extended and new tax cuts. 

As passed by the House last month, the plan would require more recipients to prove they are working in order to receive health and food benefits, including some parents with older children who had been exempt. 

Democrats, including Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, contend the federal cuts could hurt Michigan’s most vulnerable residents and create significant new costs for the state — including a nearly $900 million price tag for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. 

“Unless the vision from the House Republicans is for somebody who recently lost the use of their legs to be flipping burgers, or for somebody with dementia to be at a cash register in a grocery store, I’m not really sure what (Hall is) talking about,” said Tracy Wimmer, a spokesperson for state House Democrats. 

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Data from KFF, a non-partisan organization focused on health policy, estimates that as of May 2025, nearly 2.4 million adults and children were enrolled in Michigan’s Medicaid program, which was expanded in 2013 under then-Gov. Rick Snyder, a Republican. 

The organization estimates that three out of every eight Michigan enrollees are children, one in six live in a rural part of the state and another one in six are battling three or more chronic conditions.

Another 1.5 million Michiganders receive food assistance through SNAP. 

The federal and state governments currently spend roughly $23.4 billion on Medicaid a year for Michigan residents, per recent estimates, and the federal government entirely covers the $3.2 billion Michigan spent on SNAP benefits, or about $188 worth of food per month, during the 2024 fiscal year.

There has been fraud in both programs, with SNAP benefit theft increasing 32% from 2023 to 2024, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. But Wimmer, the House Democrats’ spokesperson, argued that adding “arbitrary barriers” like additional work requirements “does not prevent anyone who wants to be a bad actor” and called the move “callous.” 

“What it does do,” she continued, “is make it much more difficult for those who need those benefits to access them. … I think the reality is, they just want fewer people on this assistance.”

Mr. Hall goes to Washington

Hall said he and an additional 40 state legislators visited the White House Tuesday, cancelling session to meet with members of the Trump administration, including US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick and US Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon.

There, he said lawmakers and the administration touched on a number of topics, most of which revolved around how Michigan could further benefit from a close relationship with the White House. 

He pointed to Trump’s recent commitments to combat invasive Asian carp in the Great Lakes and bring a new fighter mission for Selfridge Air National Guard Base as proof the relationship is already paying dividends. 

The trip to the nation’s capital came amid tense debate in Lansing over the state budget, which Democrats and Republicans are at odds over ahead of a self-imposed July 1 deadline and a constitutional deadline of October 1. 

Hall said he and Senate Majority Leader Brinks, D-Grand Rapids, were scheduled to discuss the budget later Wednesday in hopes of eventually reaching an agreement with Whitmer, who is currently on a trade mission in Australia.

Hall defended controversial House education budget proposals and noted agreement with the Trump administration on issues like the regulation of food dyes. Kennedy and the US Food and Drug Administration in April called for banning some of those products, which the House budget also calls to bar from school meals.

To date, House Republicans have passed five separate budget bills pertaining to K-12 and higher education efforts, the latter of which lawmakers approved late last week after hours of deliberation. Many of their other budgets for other state departments have yet to be unveiled, however. 

Senate Democrats, meanwhile, passed 15 budget bills in May that propose a combined $84.5 billion in spending next fiscal year. That’s more than the $83.5 billion budget Whitmer proposed in February but likely exceeds the state’s spending authority given recently revised revenue projections. 

Hall said he would like to send Whitmer education budgets by the July 1 deadline but acknowledged it may not be “realistic” because House Republicans and Senate Democrats remain far apart on their plans.