Rep. Womack waiting for markups to gauge support for cuts
by May 5, 2025 9:53 am 761 views
U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Rogers, says he is waiting to see details of committee markup bills before deciding if he will support certain cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and taxes. The Third District Congressman also indicated he’s not optimistic that the thin margins for the GOP in the U.S. House of Representatives will make it easy for solutions that accomplish Republican goals of extending tax breaks and massively reducing spending.
“This is going to evolve into a potential Congressional version of Whack-a-Mole where you have this one issue pop up and you fix it, but you create another issue. We know we have to cut spending – that’s in our budget resolution. But to the New York guys and the high tax states, they’re saying you’ve got to do something with the tax bill to fix the state and local tax deduction,” he said.
“I don’t know where we’re at, where reality’s going to hit. I’m not terribly optimistic we’re going to meet our timelines, and I’m not wholly optimistic that we can get there from here. But let’s wait and see what the committees of jurisdiction do before we weigh in on the what ifs,” he added.
Womack, who chairs the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, was a guest on this week’s Talk Business & Politics D.C. Edition. In his interview, he discussed a variety of topics including:
• The recent HUD Secretary’s visit to NWA and expectations for outcomes;
• An update on the surface transportation bill;
• Investments being discussed for FAA, air traffic controllers, and Arkansas airports;
• Potential tax changes for highway funding; and
• Future Medicaid and SNAP cuts.
The House GOP, in concert with the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate and President Donald Trump, are attempting to extend a 2017 tax cut package, while slicing as much as $1.5 trillion from the federal budget. Womack said the House has set higher goals than the Senate in this respect.
“We’re evenly divided. I would think that to get past the status quo that most of the solutions to the bigger problems facing our country are likely going to have to be bipartisan. It’s a function of math right now because any side that only has a three or four seat majority is going to be hard-pressed – as [former Speaker] John Boehner told me one day – to keep all those jumping frogs in the wheelbarrow at the same time. But we’ll see. Time will tell,” he said.
“The Senate has got to be our dance partner in this thing, we can’t do it by ourselves. The Senate’s threshold for cuts was only $3 billion. We had $1.5 trillion. So John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader, says we’re going to try to match the House, but no promises, no guarantees. We’ll do our part,” said Womack.
Womack said he’s waiting until he sees markup bills affecting taxes, Medicaid, SNAP and other programs before deciding where his comfort level will be. He doesn’t want to see the roughly 150,000 people in his district on Medicaid lose health insurance coverage, but he also doesn’t want to see tax cuts expire, which would result in tax increases on a larger constituent base.
“I do not want to be responsible for a 20%+ tax increase on the people I represent by failing to extend the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” he said. “I would not think that we would be in a position to vote on anything until we have the complete package.”