Lawmakers ponder controversial healthcare cuts to pay for war, immigration enforcement
As Operation Epic Fury hits its fourth week, Republican lawmakers are reportedly considering cutting federal healthcare to pay for the continued campaign – a possible move that will likely ignite controversy and affect the midterms.
Opinion-analysis by Summer Lane | March 30, 2026
President Donald Trump continues to chart a new path when it comes to dealing with Iran, and like it or not, Operation Epic Fury has closed its fourth week and entered the fifth, drawing questions about how long the conflict will last and whether the U.S. can afford to remain engaged in the Middle East.
At the onset of the war, the Pentagon described the joint military effort as a limited scope operation, projecting a timeline of roughly four to six weeks.
When asked about whether that timeline still stands on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated, “The mission will continue until the objectives are achieved, and that four-to-six-week timeline does remain right now.”
To President Trump’s credit, even amid social media pontification and widespread criticism of the war in Iran, he has emphasized negotiation and diplomacy with Iran, despite a very difficult situation – namely, most of Iran’s leadership is dead.
On Sunday night, he told reporters that there was a true “regime change” in Iran, and said that the U.S. was indeed negotiating with a new set of leaders on potentially bringing the war to an end.
This is welcome news, especially as reports emerged Monday that Republican lawmakers were odiously considering cutting federal healthcare spending to pay for the ongoing war effort.
Possible cuts during midterms
According to Axios, Republicans in the House are considering cutting more enrollees from the Affordable Care Act (resulting in another potential 300,000 Americans being dropped from healthcare coverage). The savings from such a cut could amount to $30 billion, the outlet reported, and could pay for the ongoing war in Iran and immigration enforcement through ICE operations.
The war against Iran is costing American taxpayers roughly $1 billion every day, according to most estimates. Unfortunately, the cost of gas is also beginning to soar, with experts from the Macquarie Group postulating that oil prices could rise to $200 per barrel by June if the conflict is not resolved by then.
This is a serious predicament, and unfortunately, key domestic issues – like affordability, healthcare, immigration enforcement, and the housing market – have gone largely by the wayside as the entire federal apparatus is laser-focused on war in the Middle East.
Cutting federal healthcare could be politically disastrous for Republicans, especially since lawmakers have still been unwilling to pass basic voter ID legislation in the SAVE America Act – a popular item with voters.
What the polling tells us
The war in the Middle East is not a winning situation for Republicans hoping to win races across the nation this year. And while Americans can debate why or how this conflict in Iran was started, and whether it is in the best interests of the United States, the reality is that Iran is now a very big and very real problem that must be dealt with quickly and thoroughly.
Unfortunately, as 2026 is a midterm election year, the polling, while early, does not indicate fair weather ahead for Republicans. A new poll from the University of Massachusetts Amherst has found that President Trump’s current approval rating has plummeted to 33 percent. Republicans these days largely depend on the president’s popularity to carry them through in their individual races, and the latest polls reflect a stark truth: Americans do not like the war with Iran, and they want it to end.
“In the midst of skyrocketing prices, significant declines in the stock market, an unpopular war in the Middle East, a government shutdown that has led to lines at airports and nationwide protests against his presidency, it is no shock that President Donald Trump’s approval ratings have taken a hit in our latest polling,” said UMass Amherst Political Science and Poll Director Tatishe Nteta in a statement.
In politics, things can change fast. President Trump has traditionally been a very savvy, populist leader – he can turn this situation around very quickly. How? The war in Iran must end, and fast.
A likely political and global realignment
President Trump is persistently pursuing negotiations with Iran, as he should. This is great for America and great for the world. However, as the war continues, it is paving the way for several realignments.
First, a realignment of the Republican Party in a post-Charlie Kirk America. While young men were strongly gravitating toward the GOP in 2024, they are now pivoting away, due to the pressures of high costs and the shocking launch of another war in the Middle East. A poll from Qauntus Insights, published in late March, demonstrated a 76 percent disapproval rating of President Trump among American voters ages 18 to 29.
This should be a five-alarm fire for the Republican Party in an election year: young people want cheap gas, cheap groceries, and no new wars. That’s the message that won in 2024, and it will continue to win, but right now, Democrats are capitalizing on voter disenchantment and are poised to politically strike – Republicans must do something to reverse course! Charlie Kirk, tragically, is no longer here to save the day and set the tone.
Second, this war is also affecting America’s longstanding support for Israel. Once an unshakeable friendship, this violent war has muddied the wars of foreign partnership. A new NBC News survey found that only 32 percent of Americans today view Israel positively.
The Trump administration has transparently stated that this war was a preemptive response to an impending strike on Iran by Israel (Secretary of State Marco Rubio said this early in the conflict), and as Israel also continues to widen its invasion and takeover of Lebanon, it has become clear that Prime Minister Netanyahu is seizing this moment to expand Israel’s borders and power.
Agree with it or not – and there are many points to be made on all sides of the aisle – most Americans are simply not interested in engaging in any Middle Eastern conflict, particularly one that holds no benefit for U.S. interests.
And third, the longer the war goes on, the more likely it is that Americans will no longer trust the GOP to deliver on its promises, especially among the young people whom the late great Charlie Kirk worked so hard to reach.
To preserve the GOP’s slim political capital, it is integral to bring this war to an end as quickly as possible, and to invest in solving domestic issues right now: housing, groceries, immigration, law and order, healthcare, and MAHA.
Photo: Adobe Stock
