When President Trump’s budget proposal was released Tuesday, Mick Mulvaney, the budget director, defended “cuts” to Medicaid by essentially saying the president’s campaign promise not to reform it was overridden by his promise to repeal and replace Obamacare. “We support the American Health Care Act, and that does change Medicaid.”

“Everyone is interested in seeing the truly needy in their state and in our nation get the care that we promised them in Medicaid,” Mulvaney continued. “But there’s a better way to do it than under current law, which is Obamacare. We can also talk about what a failure that is. But there’s a better way to do it, and that’s what the American Health Care Act does.”