Senator John Kennedy (R-LA) once again lit up Capitol Hill this week, ripping into Democrats for trying to undo GOP reforms that finally put a stop to widespread abuse in the Medicaid system. Kennedy, known for his trademark humor and razor-sharp wit, laid out just how ridiculous Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s demands have become — and why Republicans refuse to play along with what he called “a festival of fraud.”
“Democrats want Republicans to accept outright fraud,” Kennedy said, summarizing the heart of the ongoing budget standoff. “Our bill made sure people who make too much money don’t get Medicaid, because Medicaid is supposed to be for the poor. Pretty simple concept.”
Then he dropped a bombshell: in his home state of Louisiana, audits uncovered people earning as much as $120,000 a year who were still enrolled in Medicaid.
“That’s not helping the poor — that’s stealing from them,” Kennedy said. “Our bill says if you don’t meet the income limits, you can’t get Medicaid. Democrats want to undo that. They want to roll back every common-sense reform we made and pretend it’s compassionate.”
Kennedy explained that Democrats, under Schumer’s direction, are pushing Republicans to reverse the very Medicaid integrity measures they just passed. “Their first demand,” Kennedy noted, “is to take out all the reforms that stop fraud and throw them right out the window.”
But the Louisiana senator didn’t stop at policy — he skewered Schumer’s long list of demands with his usual Southern charm and humor. “You’d need an Excel spreadsheet to track them all,” Kennedy quipped. “If you stacked up their demands on paper, you could stand on them and paint the ceiling — and that’s not much of an exaggeration.”
Behind the jokes, though, Kennedy’s message was serious: Democrats, he said, are being led by their most radical wing, and it’s dragging the country toward fiscal insanity.
“There is a wing of the Democratic Party,” Kennedy said. “I call it the socialist wing. Some less charitable folks call it the loon wing — and they’re the ones running the show right now.”
The standoff comes as Republicans fight to rein in reckless federal spending while Democrats demand billions more for bloated programs and giveaways that reward illegal immigrants and penalize hard-working taxpayers. Schumer and his allies claim the GOP’s reforms are “cruel” and “heartless,” but as Kennedy made clear, the only thing cruel about them is that they cut off the gravy train for those gaming the system.
While Democrats cry foul, Kennedy and his colleagues insist they’re standing up for America’s working class — the people footing the bill. “We’re just saying the law means what it says,” Kennedy emphasized. “Medicaid is for people who need it — not for people making six figures.”
With humor and honesty, Kennedy delivered what might be the most straightforward message in Washington: Democrats can pile their papers to the ceiling, but Republicans aren’t climbing that mountain of nonsense.
