The House Budget Committee looked at ways to change entitlement programs during a hearing Wednesday.
Chairman Jodey Arrington and other lawmakers addressed concerns over government spending, entitlement program abuse, and other policies that they say threaten both the economy and dignity of American workers.
“Through the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the House has advanced reforms to restore accountability and ensure our entitlement programs actually serve the vulnerable, not schemers,” Arrington said in his opening statement.
The hearing was titled: “Reversing the Curse: Rooting Out Waste and Fraud and Restoring the Dignity of Our Work.”
Brian Blase, president of Paragon Health Institute; Matthew Dickerson, xirector of budget policy at the Economic Policy Innovation Center; and Nick Stehle, of the the Foundation for Government Accountability testified.
They focused on the way improper payments, loopholes, and weak oversight increased government spending across programs like Medicaid.
“Federal Medicaid spending increased dramatically during the Biden administration – a result of policies that prioritized enrollment over eligibility, exacerbated state Medicaid money-laundering tactics, and produced excessive state payments to providers and insurers given states’ ability to disproportionately spend with federal money,” Blase said.
According to Stehle, “Medicaid reform is not a choice. It is a moral and fiscal imperative.”
“Choosing not to act is relegating the program to putting the truly needy last and fraudsters, illegal aliens, and able-bodied adults who sit at home first – all while taxpayers foot the bill for an ever-growing program,” he added.
Dickerson raised concerns about waste and improper payments in other programs like food assistance and unemployment insurance.
“In recent decades, enrollment has expanded significantly, benefit levels have grown faster than inflation, and taxpayer spending has surged,” he said.
Dickerson also talked about the importance of work in American society.
“It can instill ethics of integrity, honesty, respect, empathy, and accountability,” he said. “Work requires effort that is essential to earned success.”
