Overview

• At a Parkersburg town hall, Sen. Joni Ernst dismissed warnings that Medicaid cuts would cause deaths by retorting, “we all are going to die.”
• In a cemetery-shot Instagram video, Ernst offered a mock apology and urged viewers to “embrace” Jesus rather than retracting her comment.
• The Senate is now reviewing a reconciliation bill that would cut $880 billion from Health and Human Services over ten years and impose work requirements projected by the CBO to leave 7.6 million Americans uninsured.
• Some Senate Republicans, including Josh Hawley and Lisa Murkowski, have expressed reservations about the Medicaid reforms while GOP leaders defend them as necessary to curb waste and protect eligible recipients.
• Democratic voices such as Sen. Chris Murphy and DNC chair Ken Martin have condemned Ernst’s response as emblematic of a callous Republican stance on social safety nets and the human cost of budget cuts.