House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington appeared on Fox News’ The Faulkner Focus to discuss the current state of the U.S. economy and emphasize the need for reforms in health care costs.
During the interview, Arrington addressed efforts by Republicans to improve affordability for Americans. He stated, “We’re not just promoting affordability, like the Unaffordable Care Act or promoting reducing inflation, like the quote ‘Inflation Reduction Act.’ We’re actually doing something about it. We said if past was prologue, we would see the economy growing, we’d see wages go up, we’d see business investments, and we’re seeing all of the above.”
Arrington noted that mortgage rates have declined, leading to lower average payments for families. He also highlighted that both long-term and short-term interest rates are decreasing and that unemployment remains historically low. According to Arrington, “the big ticket here is that wages are outpacing inflation, so people are putting more money in their pocket. That didn’t happen for the last four years.” He added that tax cuts will result in $350 billion in refund checks next year and reduced withholdings.
On health care cost reform, Arrington criticized ongoing subsidies extended during the COVID-19 era. He said, “Let me start with: stop throwing taxpayer — hard-earned taxpayer — good money after bad by extending a layer of COVID-era, fraud-ridden subsidies that have not worked, wasted a bunch of money — by the way, the GAO — Government Accountability Office — in their recent bombshell report said tens of thousands of Social Security numbers of dead people have been used to draw down these subsidies that are not going to the people — not dead people or alive people. They’re going to insurance companies.”
He referenced Congressional Budget Office data indicating more than six million individuals enrolled in a program despite being ineligible. Arrington also criticized subsidy structures he attributed to Democrats: “Not to mention, the way it was structured by Democrats is it’s paying taxpayer subsidies for people making half a million dollars or more. That program should die a very unnatural death.”
Arrington pointed out waste and fraud issues within federal health programs: “Look at what’s happening with Tim Walz in Minnesota. Soaking the system, and building these terrible mouse traps that made health care unaffordable for every American, while it’s leaking like a sieve with waste and fraud. And that was the federal government, by the way — upwards of $500 billion a year in fraud.”
He credited Republican efforts with addressing inefficiencies: “What did Republicans do? Root out waste, fraud, and abuse by a trillion dollars. The Democrats fought us every step of the way in the Big Beautiful Bill, and now they’re proposing that this thing — this Obamacare expansion — is somehow going to save money and make health care affordable. Baloney. Baloney.”
Arrington concluded by calling for practical solutions: “Let’s do the things that we know will actually make life better and make health care more affordable.”