March 06, 2025 02:26 PM UTC

Rep. Jeff Crank Chooses Deep Denial Of Medicaid Cuts

• 2 Comments
• by: Colorado Pols

While Democrats like Rep. Jason Crow host capacity crowd town halls full of constituents angry over the Trump 2.0 administration’s bulldozing of the federal government since taking office in January, Republicans have been advised by their leadership to avoid in-person events where the public can ask unscripted questions–or at least switch to telephone-based town halls, where unwanted questions can be muted and unruly attendees left to act out in their living rooms. Freshman Rep. Jeff Crank of Colorado Springs chose the latter yesterday evening, hosting a phone chat to present his version of events after voting for the GOP’s controversial budget resolution.

And as the Colorado Springs Gazette reports, when we say this was Jeff Crank’s unique version of events, we mean it:

A day after President Donald Trump gave his the first formal address to Congress of his second term, Colorado Springs U.S. Rep. Jeff Crank backed and defended Trump’s policy decisions during an inaugural virtual town hall meeting…

Crank pushed back against the notion that the resolution would eliminate Medicaid benefits during Wednesday’s event, saying that the budget proposal “creates efficiencies” within Medicaid to ensure only those who qualify for the program receive its benefits.

“There’s a lot of scaremongering going on by groups out there,” Crank said. “It kind of angers me when I hear the folks that are out there saying that there are cuts to Medicaid.” [Pols emphasis]

What we have here is another case of factually impervious denial of the effects of the Republican budget resolution. As the Congressional Budget Office confirmed yesterday and every responsible analysis of the GOP budget plan has shown, there is no way to meet the spending reduction targets specified in the resolution without massive cuts to federal health care funding. In Crank’s district alone, an estimated 50,000 Medicaid and SCHIP patients will lose their coverage in order to meet the targeted reduction. Most Republicans when asked about the prospect of Medicaid cuts immediately pivot to the notion of cutting “waste and abuse” to cover the cuts. But few we have seen have taken the additional step Crank is taking here, affecting anger at the mere possibility of any cuts to Medicaid at all.

The reason is simple. When the plan is finalized by fellow freshman Rep. Gabe Evans’ Energy and Commerce Committee, it is going to include cuts to Medicaid. And at that moment, Jeff Crank’s backside will be left hanging in the breeze.

Politically, Rep. Crank is a bit of an unusual case, having won the GOP primary in this heavily red district despite the endorsement of Donald Trump having gone to Crank’s opponent and soon-to-be former state party chairman Dave Williams. There was a time when Crank’s disdain for Trump was as public as it was with any other so-called “Never Trumper,” a time that ended in cowardly reversal with the collapse of Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign. Crank’s background as a right-wing radio host and activist with the conservative astroturf advocacy group Americans for Prosperity ideologically predisposes him to support an aggressive assault on the federal bureaucracy like we’re witnessing today. Early last month, Crank even professed to welcome a DOGE purge of the Department of Defense, seemingly oblivious to the potential job losses in his defense-heavy district.

But Jeff Crank is also about to be made a liar, in terms no one will be able to spin, and with consequences his constituents will feel.

That will be the real test of Jeff Crank’s conscience.