May 19, 2025 12:22 PM UTC

Jeff Hurd Exercises Cave-In Option On Medicaid Cuts

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• by: Colorado Pols

We wrote last Thursday about freshman GOP Rep. Jeff Hurd’s appearance on CNN last week, in which Hurd criticized President Donald Trump’s acceptance of a gifted $400 luxury 747 from the government of Qatar to serve as Air Force One while Trump is in office and for Trump’s personal use after under the nominal control of Trump’s presidential library foundation. This marked the latest in a series of instances in which Hurd has tried to put daylight between himself and Trump, from the January 6th pardons to Trump’s erratic foreign trade policies. And as readers know, last month Rep. Hurd joined a bloc of vulnerable Republicans threatening to vote against legislation that cuts Medicaid “too deeply.”

Unfortunately, in last week’s interview with CNN’s Pamela Brown, Hurd sounded much more supportive of the bill passed last week by fellow freshman Rep. Gabe Evans’ Energy and Commerce Committee that would result in millions of Americans and thousands of Hurd’s constituents losing their health coverage than makes sense if you believed Hurd the first time:

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to bring in Republican Congressman Jeff Hurd…[y]ou signed a letter with a dozen other Republican moderates urging House leaders to preserve Medicaid. So, how will you be voting on this bill as it stands right now?

REP. JEFF HURD (R-CO): Thanks a lot, Pamela. It’s good to see you again. Listen, I think this is a step in the right direction. We promise that we would protect Medicaid for the most vulnerable populations. That’s what we’re working hard to do. It’s important in my district making sure that we take care of the elderly for children, pregnant women, the disabled. I think that we’re making steps in the right direction. And as it is right now, I think this is a step in the right direction.

BROWN: So, the total number of people who could lose coverage under this budget, it’s unclear. I want to note that, but there’s this analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that suggests it could be in the millions. You’ve said that one in three people in your district rely on Medicaid. Do you know how many of them will lose coverage under this current budget?

HURD: Well, listen, I’m optimistic that we’re going to protect the most vulnerable populations, including those in my district. You’re right, that one out of three people in my district relies on Medicaid. We need to make sure that we’re protecting Medicaid and preserving it for those who need it most. Those who are the most vulnerable, that’s what I’m fighting for. And I think that’s what the Republicans in the Energy and Commerce Committee and in the House are trying to do.

Hurd went on to defend the new Medicaid eligibility work requirements to an uncomfortable length while Brown questioned their efficacy:

BROWN: I guess it’s also a question though of how you exactly define the most vulnerable. I know you mentioned the elderly and pregnant women and that kind of thing. But help policy experts say most people on Medicaid, many people at least are, they’re already working. And there was the CBO analysis from 2023 that found that work requirements would have negligible effect on employment status or how many hours Medicaid recipients worked. Do you have any concerns that people who really need Medicaid will lose access because of these new requirements?

HURD: Well, I would caution people to not read too much into what the Congressional Budget Office says with respect to these work requirements. I mean, we’ve seen that they’ve made projections that are not accurate in the past. I think fundamentally, most Americans agree that if you need these benefits, if you sincerely are part of that vulnerable population, you should get them…

For those in Hurd’s district, which has the highest percentage of Medicaid patients of any congressional district in the state, who were hoping that Hurd’s lip service to protecting Medicaid would manifest in the form of actual opposition to an actual bill, Hurd’s climbdown to embrace this bill’s cuts will come as a huge disappointment. While it’s true that Freedom Caucus hardliners are demanding more pain inflicted sooner than the current proposal, we’re still talking about thousands of people who Hurd represents losing their health coverage. Hurd doesn’t need to take our word for it, with health care providers across his district sounding the alarm over what these cuts will mean for their own operations. The loss of services if rural health providers are forced to close goes beyond Medicaid patients. Everyone who depends on those services pays the price when a rural hospital closes.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has set the goal of the “Big Beautiful Bill” passing the House before the Memorial Day holiday weekend. During that time, we expect Hurd to be heavily lobbied by local stakeholders to vote against these needless cuts. The only impetus driving this campaign to throw millions of Americans off their health coverage is one party’s political agenda. If Jeff Hurd votes for this bill, it will be an act of betrayal against his own constituents that will define him more than a hundred co-signed letters complaining about Trump’s misdeed of the week.

Hurd’s claim to the moral high ground is about to face the ultimate test.