House Speaker Mike Johnson forcefully rejected Democrat claims that President Donald J. Trump’s recently passed “Big Beautiful Bill” would cut Medicaid benefits, calling the attacks baseless and politically motivated.

“There are no Medicaid cuts in the big, beautiful bill. We’re not cutting Medicaid,” Johnson said in a Sunday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press. “You can underscore that.” Instead, he explained, the bill strengthens the program by rooting out waste, fraud, and abuse — long-standing issues that even Democrats once claimed to oppose before shifting leftward.

The legislation, which narrowly passed the GOP-controlled House, includes several core elements of President Trump’s second-term agenda, including a work requirement for able-bodied adults receiving Medicaid benefits — a commonsense measure Speaker Johnson called both “important” and “heroic.”

“We’re simply saying if you’re a healthy, able-bodied adult — especially these young men — you should be expected to either work or contribute to your community at least 20 hours per week,” Johnson told host Kristen Welker. “That’s not too much to ask, and the American people agree.”

Welker cited a critical statement from the American Hospital Association, claiming the bill would hurt rural hospitals and vulnerable patients. But Johnson was quick to dismiss that as fearmongering, noting that the bill includes “a lot of flexibility” and “does not put rural hospitals at risk.”

As Johnson explained, the original intent of Medicaid was to serve young mothers, the elderly, and the disabled. But under Democrat mismanagement, the program has ballooned to include millions of able-bodied adults who could be working — and, more disturbingly, an estimated 1.4 million illegal immigrants.

“They’re not entitled to that,” Johnson stated flatly. “This is for American citizens in those vulnerable populations.”

Democrats, meanwhile, continue to misrepresent the legislation, falsely claiming it will strip millions of Americans of coverage. Johnson was clear: “4.8 million people will not lose their Medicaid unless they choose to do so.”

Appearing later on CBS’s Face the Nation, Johnson also warned that some Senate Republicans might sabotage the bill by caving to pressure and stripping out key provisions — including one that would limit activist judges from issuing nationwide injunctions on politically charged cases, a recurring tactic used to obstruct Trump’s America First agenda.

“We have not cut Medicaid, and we have not cut SNAP,” Johnson reiterated. “What we’re doing is reforming them — responsibly — so that these vital safety nets are preserved for the people who truly need them.”