District 2 Congressman plans to support House Reconciliation Budget Bill

The U.S. House is putting the final touches on its budget reconciliation bill, also known as President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

It includes sweeping changes to defense spending, Medicaid funding, energy and tax policies. District 2 House Rep. Don Bacon spoke about the budget bill, which he said he'll support.

Bacon has been outspoken in his push to protect some aspects of Medicaid in the House reconciliation budget bill, but the U.S. Representative said he does plan to support some cuts when they get to the House floor.

Bacon said he does not support taking away Medicaid resources for children and disabled individuals, but he does support adding work requirements for able-bodied adults without children. It was those stipulations he feels made it to the bill that Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said he wants to bring to the floor for debate by the end of the week.

“I think I've got to the point now where I can vote for it. I got one loose end on refugees and SNAP that I'm still working. But by and large, there's so many good things in this bill," he said. "I've been able to mitigate what I thought was not good that I'm prepared to vote for it.”

Critics of the reconciliation bill said it would have detrimental effects on Nebraskans who rely on Medicaid funding.

"It's important for all of our community members to have access to the programs that they qualify for, regardless of immigration status, that these programs work and work in Nebraska," said Kelsey Arends, Nebraska Appleseed senior attorney on health care access. "We rely on them as individuals and community members, but also our health systems and industry and workforce rely on these programs."

Nebraskans voted to expand Medicaid in 2018. Arends added her team has appreciated Bacon's comments on protecting vulnerable Nebraskans, but she wants him to follow through on that commitment by changing course in supporting the bill as it stands. As of December 2024, about 340,000 Nebraskans were on Medicaid.

Bacon said he feels comfortable with the bill now, but not if negotiations are reopened. He said it would be a deal breaker for him if the bill were reopened for negotiations by the Freedom Caucus, a group of ultra-conservative House Republicans.

"They're going to want to renegotiate some of the things we've agreed on, and that would be a bitter pill to swallow," he said.

He added there should be no cuts to children's Medicaid. About 32% of Nebraska children are on Medicaid.

The Congressman has had two bills passed within the last two weeks: the Law Enforcement Officers Safety Act and the CHIP IN for Veterans Act.

Omaha Mayoral Election

Bacon said although he congratulates Omaha mayor-elect John Ewing Jr. on his recent win, he thinks incumbent Jean Stothert should have won the election.

"Mayor Stothert took Omaha and really made it the premier city to live in America. And so one of my takeaways is a lot of the citizens didn't get that through the campaign," he said.

He added some critics may claim she lost as a statement to Trump's policies, but he thinks that's a "tertiary reason," and not the main reason.

"So what's the takeaway for me? I realized every time I run reelection, that it gets harder," Bacon said. "I just know there's a challenge to win on a sixth term. We'll have our hands full if we decide to do that."