The president has said his administration “won’t touch” entitlement programs. Past efforts to do so have backfired on Trump and other politicians.

Democrats are rerunning the playbook that won them control of Congress in 2018, focusing on the cost of the G.O.P.’s tax cut plan for ordinary Americans, particularly when it comes to health care.

The possibility of Medicaid cuts has become a headache for the most vulnerable Republicans in Congress — and has handed Democrats a potent issue ahead of 2026 elections.

Rep. Jeff Van Drew said the President “understood” his concerns, which are also shared by a number of other Republicans.

The Senate plan, passed last week, does not include Medicaid cuts. The Senate budget resolution omits tax policy but sets the spending agenda to enact Trump’s border, defense and energy policies, punting negotiations on tax policy to a later date and breaking up the spending plan into two separate measures.

In theory, the budget, which kicks off the process of passing an extension of tax cuts enacted in 2017 and up to $2 trillion in spending cuts meant to partly offset them, could become law without significant cuts to Medicaid. But it won’t be easy.

March deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown, and hesitation is surfacing among congressional Republicans about potential cuts to Medicaid