Rep. David Valadao confronted a no-win resolution final month: Fall into line behind President Trump and vote for a finances decision that will nearly definitely reduce into Medicaid funding, risking his constituents’ wrath; or vote in opposition to it, catapulting his social gathering into chaos and setting himself up for a major opponent presumably backed by Trump.
Valadao, a Republican dairy farmer from Hanford, selected his social gathering.
In his speech on the Home ground forward of the vote, Valadao acknowledged that he’d “heard from numerous constituents” advocating for continued help of this system.
“I cannot help a remaining reconciliation invoice that dangers leaving them behind,” he stated, including, “I ask that management stays dedicated to working with my colleagues and I to provide a remaining product that strengthens important applications like Medicaid and SNAP and ensures that our constituents will not be left behind.”
Valadao speaks at a 2022 information convention on the U.S. Capitol. Greater than half 1,000,000 residents in his Central Valley district, or roughly two-thirds of the inhabitants, are lined by Medi-Cal — essentially the most of any district in California, in accordance with the UC Berkeley Labor Heart.
(Invoice Clark / CQ-Roll Name / Getty Photographs)
Valadao’s vote got here early in a finances course of that Republicans say will ultimately present $2 trillion in financial savings. Assuming all Democrats vote in opposition to a remaining spending plan — as they did with the finances decision — Home Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can afford to lose just one Republican vote.
Again house, Valadao faces the troublesome job of reassuring his constituents within the twenty second Congressional District that he’ll stave off cuts to Medi-Cal, as Medicaid is thought in California. Republican Reps. Younger Kim and Ken Calvert, who symbolize different swing districts in California, additionally voted for the finances decision. However Valadao faces a steeper battle: Greater than half 1,000,000 residents in his Central Valley district, or roughly two-thirds of the inhabitants, are lined by this system — essentially the most of any district in California, in accordance with the UC Berkeley Labor Heart.
Already, Democrats are getting ready to make use of his vote in an effort to unseat the longtime congressman.
Because the minority social gathering in each the Home and Senate, Democrats have struggled to resolve how to withstand Trump and the Republicans in Congress. The finances decision vote, which is sort of sure to chop into Medicaid, gave them one thing to work with: Home Majority Ahead, a progressive political motion committee, began working assault adverts in 23 potential swing districts held by Republicans, together with Valadao’s.
Valadao attends the Buttonwillow Fall Farm Competition in October 2022.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Occasions)
“David Valadao will remorse betraying Central Valley households by voting to intestine Medicaid as a way to fund huge tax cuts for billionaires and massive companies,” Justin Chermol, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Marketing campaign Committee, stated in a press release.
Many Central Valley residents are unwell. Kern County, one of many three counties that make up the district, had the best mortality price for diabetes within the state, with 1,241 deaths between 2020 and 2022.
In neighboring Kings County, coronary heart illness and most cancers are the main reason for dying, and greater than 1 / 4 of residents rated their well being as “truthful” or “poor,” in accordance with the county public well being division. And in Tulare County, well being officers are warning that finances cuts may power the closure of rural hospitals, which already function on tight margins attributable to a excessive variety of Medi-Cal sufferers.
Kelly Kulzer-Reyes, a Bakersfield resident and co-founder of the Kern Down Syndrome Community, has a working relationship with Valadao, who has supported their advocacy previously, she stated. Within the district, greater than 8,500 folks depend on the Regional Service Heart, which goals to assist people with developmental disabilities.
“I do know he needs to help us, I do know he is an efficient particular person,” she stated. “However the vote to maneuver ahead with the finances decision was devastating to me. I’ve by no means been as scared as I’m proper now.”
Amelia Reyes, 12, practices her gymnastics expertise at Membership 21 in Pasadena. The Reyes household drives down from Bakersfield so Amelia could make use of the educational and useful resource middle for people with Down syndrome.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Occasions)
Recipients corresponding to her 12-year-old daughter, Amelia, rely upon the state and federal healthcare program to fund companies that enable them to study expertise and navigate the world, Kulzer-Reyes stated. Amelia, who has Down syndrome, receives entry to a program that helps contributors learn to socialize with others. Different households get healthcare — corresponding to annual physician’s appointments and dental checkups — they in any other case wouldn’t have.
“These sorts of companies could make or break a household,” Kulzer-Reyes stated. “They’re life-changing and life-destroying for those who don’t have entry.”
She believes Valadao when he says he doesn’t help cuts to this system. However she needs he did extra to face as much as his social gathering.
“I simply want he would converse up. It should be exhausting, nevertheless it’s the job he ran for,” she stated. “This can be a career-breaking or making scenario for him proper now.”
Republican leaders advocating for the finances decision emphasised that it didn’t explicitly point out Medicaid. Trump, who lobbied sure congressional Republicans to help the finances decision, has additionally stated that he wouldn’t help slicing Medicaid.
However the Congressional Finances Workplace, which supplies nonpartisan finances evaluation, reported that it will be inconceivable for the Vitality and Commerce Committee — which is tasked with slicing $880 billion — to seek out sufficient financial savings with out touching Medicaid, Medicare or the Kids’s Well being Insurance coverage Program.
Kids with Down syndrome study to socialize in a category at Membership 21 in Pasadena.
(Myung J. Chun / Los Angeles Occasions)
“Medicaid is the one place — it’s just like the financial institution, it’s the place the cash is,” stated Mark Peterson, professor of public coverage, political science, well being coverage and administration at UCLA. He added of Valadao: “He’s going to have an issue.”
The finances blueprint is winding its means via numerous committees. In the meantime, the Senate will take up laws, which the Home handed Tuesday, to keep away from a shutdown and fund the federal government via Sept. 30. Valadao voted for the short-term measure, saying in a press release afterward that it “ensures important authorities companies stay operational [and] protects Social Safety, Medicare, and Medicaid recipients from pointless disruptions.”
Virtually sure to face ugly backlash, Valadao has averted holding city halls in his district. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Fremont) tauntingly introduced he would maintain conferences for Valadao as an alternative — in addition to in Kim’s and Calvert’s districts.
The Battle for Our Well being advocacy coalition organized a city corridor in Bakersfield final month forward of the finances vote and invited Valadao, who stated he couldn’t attend. The occasion, in accordance with native experiences, featured many annoyed residents who rely upon the healthcare program.
Joyce Corridor, 80, carried an indication that learn “healthcare for the folks and never for the billionaires” outdoors Valadao’s Bakersfield workplace on a current afternoon. The retiree stated she depends on Medi-Cal to cowl the prices of her co-pays and prescription medicine. With out it, she stated, she’d possible should rely upon her household to cowl the prices.
If Valadao votes to chop into this system, Corridor stated, she hopes that he loses his seat in Congress throughout the subsequent election cycle.
A reasonably average Republican in a Democrat-majority district, Valadao is cautious about talking out. He avoids the media, and rarely provides interviews. When approached by a reporter for this text, Valadao referred inquiries to his spokesperson, who stated he was not accessible.
Voting on pivotal healthcare laws is acquainted territory for Valadao. In 2017, he voted alongside social gathering strains and joined his Republican colleagues to repeal and exchange the Inexpensive Care Act. That subsequent election cycle, he misplaced to Democratic challenger TJ Cox.
Valadao received his seat again in 2020 and managed to hold on via 2022, even after he voted in Trump’s second impeachment trial to oust the president for inciting an rebel on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. He received reelection in 2024 by greater than 11,000 votes.
If Valadao helps a remaining finances that cuts Medicaid, it may imply a repeat of his 2018 loss, stated Matt Herdman, the California director for Defend Our Care, a nonprofit that advocates for elevated entry to reasonably priced healthcare. He stated folks within the district have change into energized to defend in opposition to Medicaid cuts.
“If David Valadao votes to chop Medicaid, it is going to be the only largest subject to trigger his defeat in 2026,” Herdman predicted.
Cathy Abernathy, a GOP strategist, disputed that evaluation and stated she doesn’t suppose Valadao ought to be involved. Voters within the district belief him to ship and never reduce Medicaid advantages except it’s wasteful and going to the “grasping,” she stated.
“Slicing the scale of this authorities in order that it’s not so pricey on the working folks however nonetheless present wanted companies continues to be one thing that they belief Valadao on,” Abernathy stated.
Some, corresponding to German Cervantes, consider Valadao will finally get up for his constituents who rely upon Medicaid. Cervantes, who has autism and advocates for the autism neighborhood, in 2014 interned for Valadao’s workplace, the place he received to satisfy the congressman and discovered his values.
Cervantes, 30, depends on Medi-Cal to cowl the prices of a program that has opened up doorways for him to journey and take part in applications corresponding to Completely happy Trails, a horse remedy program, and volunteer journeys. It additionally covers his medical bills, together with annual bodily exams, dental checkups and new glasses.
His message to Valadao? Stand by his constituents and Medicaid.
“Hey David, if you end up in Washington, D.C., with Congress, the one factor I encourage you is to please inform Congress to not reduce Medicare and Medi-Cal,” Cervantes stated, “as a result of for those who do, not solely will folks lose their jobs and their healthcare appointments, many individuals will lose their lives.”
Gomez reported from Los Angeles and Pinho from Washington.
