The California Health Care Foundation, an independent nonprofit group that studies health issues, estimates that two-thirds of all residents in the district get help from Medi-Cal. Valadao represents a majority Latino district that includes most of Kings County and slices of Tulare and Kern counties.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson has ruled out some of the deepest cuts to Medicaid as concerns bubble up across the GOP, from the president to state leaders.

While Nancy Pelosi described President Donald Trump's remarks as a "manifesto of mistruths," Rep. Darrell Issa said Trump "told it like it is."

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.

The GOP-written budget resolution could lead to a $16 billion annual loss in federal funding for health care in the Central Valley.

David Lightman is McClatchy’s chief congressional correspondent. He’s been writing, editing and teaching for nearly 50 years, with stops in Hagerstown, Maryland; Riverside, California; Annapolis; Baltimore; and, since 1981, Washington.

Political activists made a final push Monday to persuade Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, to oppose budget cuts proposed in Congress that would endanger federal spending on the Medicaid program that as many as two-thirds of his constituents rely on for their health care.

David Valadao ’s central California district ... one of the nation’s costliest corners for health care. Each of these Republicans — and some of their conservative colleagues — lined ...