Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent pushed back on Sunday when CNN’s Dana Bash said the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” would result in cuts to Medicaid.

“Only in DC is a 20% hike over 10 years a cut,” said Bessent. “Medicaid funding will go up 20% over the next 10 years. The people who Medicaid was designed for – the pregnant women, the disabled, and families with children under 14 – will be refocused.”

The Treasury secretary said that those who stand to lose benefits are those that do not qualify as “vulnerable.”

“Able-bodied Americans are not vulnerable Americans, so a work requirement or a community service requirement, that’s very popular with the public, and many state programs have that now,” he said.

Bash said that regardless of whether or not the American people generally support some work requirements for Medicaid, the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” is still a broken promise by President Donald Trump because “the president promised that there would not be changes to Medicaid benefits.”

“There is no change in benefits. There’s a change in requirements to get the benefits,” Bessent corrected her. The secretary continued that with the administration’s focus on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States and curbing illegal immigration, jobs will be available for Americans willing to work.

Bessent went on to accuse Democrats of infantilizing Medicaid recipients by claiming new registration requirements will be too much for them to handle.

It is a group of Democrats who unfortunately seem to think that poor people are stupid. I don’t think poor people are stupid. I think they have agency, and I think to have them registered twice a year for these benefits, that is not a burden,” the secretary said. “But these people who want to infantilize the poor and those who need these Medicaid benefits are alarmists.”

Bessent on Medicaid cuts: "The able-bodied Americans are not vulnerable Americans … people can get off Medicaid and get a job that has good healthcare benefits … I don't think poor people are stupid. I think they have agency." pic.twitter.com/raDM6GQEOU

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 6, 2025

Trump signed the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” into law on Independence Day. The nearly 900-page reconciliation bill may be the defining legislative achievement of his second term.

The legislation includes reforms to Medicaid, as well as new funding for administration priorities such as border security and national defense. The legislation also promotes fossil fuel development while cutting tax credits for green energy and electric vehicles.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who played a key role in shepherding the legislation through the House, has been optimistic about the bill’s popularity with the American public. Johnson said over the weekend that the GOP will make a point of campaigning on the bill’s passage ahead of midterm elections.

“Our Republicans are going to be out across the country telling the simple truth, and guess what? It will be demonstrated. Everyone will have more take home pay. They’ll have more jobs and opportunity. The economy will be doing better. And we will be able to point to that as the obvious result of what we did,” Johnson said.

On Sunday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent revealed that President Trump is intent on reviving tariffs that were paused if countries don’t “move along” by August 1.

Bessent appeared on CNN‘s “State of the Union” with host Dana Bash, who asked what was going to happen when the initial 90-day pause on foreign tariffs expired in three days.

“I’m not going to give away the playbook, because we’re going to be very busy over the next 72 hours,” Bessent answered. “President Trump’s going to be sending letters to some of our trading partners, saying that, if you don’t move things along, then, on August 1, you will boomerang back to your April 2 tariff level. So I think we’re going to see a lot of deals very quickly. “

“So there’s basically a new deadline?” Bash asked.

“It’s not a new deadline,” Bessent replied. “We are saying this is when it’s happening. If you want to speed things up, have at it. If you want to go back to the old rate, that’s your choice.

Bessent explained that the “playbook” is “to apply maximum pressure. We saw that the E.U. was very slow in coming to the table. Three weeks ago, on a Friday morning, President Trump threatened 50 percent tariffs, and, within a few hours, five of the European national leaders had called him. And Ursula von der Leyen, the head of the E.U., was on the phone.”
“We are close to several deals,” Bessent continued. “As always, there’s a lot of foot-dragging on the other side. And so I would expect to see several big announcements over the next couple of days.”

“The thing about being the deficit country, Dana, is, when you are the deficit country, you have the leverage,” Bessent asserted. “These are surplus countries that they have exported more to us than we export to them. So we have the leverage in this situation.”

When Bash posited that small business owners have told her they are living with uncertainty because of the tariffs, Bessent replied, “I’d say two things, is, the other thing they would probably have been telling you is, it was the uncertainty around taxes. So, with the One Big Beautiful Bill, they now have great certainty on taxes. … When I’m out talking to businesses, they want trade and taxes. So we have certainty on taxes now. All businesses know that they will be getting 100 percent expensing for new plant and equipment. On tariffs, again, it is the 18 important trading relationships. And we’re moving through those.”