Tom Emmer Healthcare Town Halls Minnesota

Tom Emmer on the Cuts in Trump's Budget Bill: 'It Doesn't Even Scratch the Surface.' Those Cuts Could Take Health Coverage From Up to 253,000 Minnesotans.

The House's No. 3 Republican told the St. Cloud Times that the spending cuts in Trump's budget bill were just the start — 'It doesn't even scratch the surface' — and government needs to be reinvented. The same bill is projected to leave 10 million more Americans uninsured — and the budget office says it adds $3.4 trillion to deficits. He also says he's stopped meeting constituents in public.

MAGA Report Cards · Oct 09, 2026

Tom Emmer, the third-ranking Republican in the U.S. House, sat down with the St. Cloud Times this week to make his case for reelection in Minnesota's 6th District. When the conversation turned to the budget, he made a promise worth hearing clearly.

Trump's budget bill, he said, was only the beginning.

"It was like $1.5 trillion over 10 years," Emmer told the paper, as reported in a story the Miami Herald republished. "It doesn't even scratch the surface. You really got to reinvent government as we go forward."

The bill he's talking about is the one that cut Medicaid, SNAP and help paying for health insurance, alongside trillions in tax cuts. He isn't apologizing for those cuts. He's saying there should be more.

What "the surface" already cost

The budget bill Emmer helped pass as House Majority Whip is projected to leave 10 million more Americans without health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office, as summarized by Georgetown's Center for Children and Families.

Here in Minnesota:

An estimated 152,000 to 253,000 Minnesotans could lose their health coverage under the law, according to state officials.
It is expected to cut $15.4 billion in federal Medicaid money from Minnesota over the next decade — 12% of what the state would otherwise have received.
About 452,600 Minnesotans get SNAP food assistance every month, about 7.8% of the state.

That is what Emmer calls not even scratching the surface.

He says it's about the debt. The bill added to it.

Emmer told the Times that the budget, and the national debt in particular, is among his top priorities.

But the bill he's proud of didn't shrink the debt. The Congressional Budget Office's final score found it adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit through 2034, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. With interest, the group estimates it increases borrowing by about $4.1 trillion.

So the cuts to health care and food help didn't pay down the debt. The rest of the bill cost far more than they saved. When Emmer says the next step is to "reinvent government," the people who got cut the first time have every reason to ask what's on the list next.

This isn't the first time Emmer has talked about costs in a way that doesn't match the numbers. He has told national TV audiences that eggs cost 78 cents and that ground beef costs "less than $2 a pound" — a price not seen since 2003.

And he's stopped meeting people in public

In the same interview, Emmer said he has stopped meeting people in public, holding private town halls by phone instead and spending less time out in person. He pointed to threats against members of Congress. "The threats this Congress (receives) are in the five figure number, for all of us in Congress, not just me," he said.

Threats against lawmakers are real and serious. But the result is the same for the people of the 6th District: the man who wants to "reinvent government" after cutting their health care isn't standing in a room where they can ask him about it.

Emmer himself said that's a loss. Not holding public town halls, he told the Times, "really makes me sad, because we should be able to have these discussions in public, we should be able to disagree vehemently and yet respect one another." A public town hall is where that happens.

In summary

Tom Emmer, the House's No. 3 Republican, said of the spending cuts in Trump's budget bill, "It doesn't even scratch the surface," and that government needs to be reinvented. That bill is projected to leave 10 million more Americans uninsured; state officials say its cuts could cost between 152,000 and 253,000 Minnesotans their coverage, and it is expected to cut $15.4 billion in federal Medicaid money from Minnesota over a decade. The Congressional Budget Office found it adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit. Emmer also said he now holds town halls only privately, by phone.