Van Drew emerges as swing vote on House GOP budget plan

Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-Dennis) is not typically known for bucking his party on the major policy battles that come before him. But as Republicans try to shepherd their monumental budget plan through the House – a vote could come as soon as this evening – Van Drew says he’s not necessarily on board with the resolution drafted by his fellow Republicans.

At issue is the budget resolution’s directive to cut $880 billion from programs under the Energy & Commerce Committee’s jurisdiction, part of a larger effort to reduce spending and extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. Many of those billions would likely come out of Medicaid, the health care program for low-income Americans – an outcome that Van Drew said isn’t acceptable to him.

“People that are disabled, people who are in nursing homes, people that are working poor – a lot of all of these people are wearing red hats! They’re the new Republican Party: the populist, conservative party,” Van Drew said. “Before I would vote for this, I would want some commitments that we’re not going to touch Medicaid.”

Van Drew, a close Trump ally, said that the president is in agreement with him about leaving Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security alone, though Trump has also separately encouraged Republicans to support the GOP’s budget plan. (The resolution up this week is a blueprint that directs committees to identify cuts; a bill actually making those cuts would come later.)

“This is not me opposing the president, to be honest with you. This is me having a different opinion than some of leadership does. The president is on the same page as I am,” Van Drew said, adding that he’d talked with Trump multiple times in recent days.

Van Drew even went so far as to say that he would prioritize Medicaid over restoring the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, a critical issue for New Jersey representatives of both parties as budget and tax negotiations continue.

“This is a way bigger deal than SALT in my mind,” he said. “This affects everyday working people. People that cut your hair, that do your public works.”

Van Drew is one of a number of Republicans who have publicly expressed concerns about the budget, though not all of them are coming from the same direction; some prospective “no” votes are unhappy that the resolution doesn’t include enough spending cuts. Because of the GOP’s very narrow House majority, only a handful of GOP members would be enough to sink the vote.

That’s prompted some New Jersey Democrats to explicitly call on their home-state colleagues to reject the bill. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-Long Branch), the top Democrat on the Energy & Commerce Committee, called out New Jersey’s three Republican representatives by name yesterday, noting how many Medicaid recipients live in each of their districts; asked whether she had had any conversations with her New Jersey GOP colleagues on the issue, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Ewing) did not mince words.

“They know the implications of this budget,” Watson Coleman said after an enormous press conference featuring most of the House Democratic caucus. “They know it’s wrong. But they don’t have courage. They’re weak, they’re spineless, and they are clueless as to how their constituents are going to respond.”

It’s not clear – yet – where Reps. Chris Smith (R-Manchester) and Tom Kean Jr. (R-Westfield) will land on the budget, though they haven’t been making a public show of hesitation like Van Drew has. And Van Drew, for his part, left a pathway open to eventually supporting the bill: passing it through the House and letting the Senate make changes such that Medicaid and other core social programs are given more breathing room.

“I’m definitely not saying I’m voting for it yet, but I hate when you’re voting for a damn bill because you know somebody else is going to make it better,” he said. “It happens, I’ve done it before, I’ll end up doing it again; it’s not one of my favorite things in the world. I’d like to vote for something I really like.”

“I’m good with all the other cuts,” he added. “I’m good with a lot of this stuff. I’m good with a lot of [the Department of Government Efficiency]. But you don’t want to hurt regular people.”