COLDWATER, MI — Amid some heckling, Congressman Tim Walberg defended President Trump’s “Big, beautiful bill” tax and spending legislation before the monthly Branch County Association of Realtors coffee gathering Tuesday, July 8.
Congressman Tim Walberg defended his vote and passage of President Trump’s “Big, beautiful bill” at Hope Cafe Tuesday morning at the Realtor’s monthly coffee.
“All people who are legally allowed to receive benefits under Medicaid will receive those. Those are people who are infirm, disabled, senior citizens or single parents with children, not illegal immigrants, not able-bodied, employable young adults,” Walberg said.
The Fifth District of Michigan congressman added, “There are some hospitals, rural and suburban and urban who will fail, but the only way to achieve what we need to get this country back on track is through some hard decisions that had to be made.”
He said some of those helped create a troubled position.
“There are some hospitals that have got themselves into trouble, significantly, their whole systems. ProMedica being one of those who was mismanaged. I hope we can turn it around. But that system caused many of its own problems,” Walberg said.
ProMedica sold the Coldwater Hospital to Insight of Flint eight months ago.
Walberg said Congress appropriated funds to help hospitals deal with Medicaid losses.
“I don’t know how much would go to any individual hospital, but to assist them in dealing with the loss of the Medicaid dollars that are coming,” he said.
Walberg blamed the state’s Medicaid funding program on the state’s Democratic administrations’ adoption of enhanced Medicaid funding when they should not have.
The congressman, whose district extends from Lake Michigan to Lake Erie, said he hoped Coldwater and Hillsdale hospitals would survive.
Walberg said the bill includes tax relief for seniors, lower tax rates, and enhanced Child Tax Credits to encourage population growth.
Part of the crowd at the Hope Cafe Tuesday morning to hear Congressman Tim Walberg, State Representative Jennifer Wortz, and State Senator Jon Lindsey and the Branch County Association of Realtors coffee.
The eight-term congressman emphasized the importance of making Trump’s first-term tax cuts permanent and the significant spending cuts achieved through the bill.
He was challenged by a Lenawee County resident over the alleged arrest of a legal resident by masked, unidentified agents in that county and held while his family suffered.
Walberg said the legal system will be followed.
“We will get to the problem of mistakes, as well as find those that are not supposed to be here. It’s going to take a bit of time,” he said.
Walberg discussed the changes to student loan debt, including simplifying the repayment process and holding universities accountable for their alums’s loan repayment. He emphasized the importance of accountability in higher education to prevent student loan debt from becoming a burden on taxpayers.
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Most of the audience listened without comment or disruption.
Contact Don Reid: dReid@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Coldwater Daily Reporter: Congressman Walberg defends Trump’s ‘Big, beautiful bill’