MISSOULA — Potential government cuts have been a major topic across the country and in Missoula.
Protestors gathered on Tuesday outside of the office of U.S. Senator Steve Daines’ over concerns about the future of Medicaid.
"Medicaid is a critically important program in our state in our country. It covers about 1 in 5 Montanans close to two in five kids in Montana, and is the difference between having access to health care," said Timothy Caramore, a local family physician who joined others to voice their concerns.
The protesters said they're worried about potential cuts to Medicaid as part of the House GOP Budget Plan which is looking to cut $880 billion over 10 years.
President Donald Trump promised not to cut the program, but many believe that amount of money cannot be slashed without affecting Medicaid. That's because the program accounts for a large percentage of the budget.
Concerned about the potential impact here at home, protestors marched outside of Daines' office.
" We're retired social workers and we don't get to retire because we have to keep trying to do things to help the people that we've been helping for generations," social worker Loraine Bond said at the rally.
"We know from firsthand experience of what cuts does to people's lives, and we're not willing to accept that," Cindy Garthwait, Retired social worker says.
MTN reached out to Senator Daines for comment and his office released the following statement:
“Senator Daines supports Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare. He also supports efforts to address waste, fraud, and abuse in these programs – the same stance as President Trump. Senator Daines has been in close contact with the DOGE team and believes they are doing important work identifying instances of wasteful spending, and then the appropriate agencies are able to decide what to do from there.”
