Medicaid patients are sitting in limbo right now as congressional Republicans weigh cuts to the program.

President Trump has said he won't touch Medicaid, and speaker Mike Johnson has insisted that the program is not on the chopping block.

Instead, Republicans say they are looking to cut waste from the Medicaid program.

And weighing things like work requirements for coverage.

But Democrats warn any cuts could lead to catastrophic consequences.

Senior correspondent Brenda Flanagan spoke about what impact these cuts could have in the Garden State.

So this is a real crisis, and I cannot emphasize enough how unacceptable it is.

Congressman Frank Pallone called a news conference of Democrats and health care advocates together at central Jersey Medical Center in Perth Amboy.

It's one of 23 community health centers across the state that depend on federal Medicaid money.

And Pallone warned the Republican House budget proposal includes $880 billion in Medicaid cuts.

The level of it would just cripple a community.

Health centers, cripple hospitals.

And what the Republicans are saying is, oh, don't worry about it, because the state's going to make up the difference, right?

Well, that is solely that is simply a lie.

This is something that we really ought to be afraid of.

Congressman.

And you're right.

This is real.

Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin noted Jersey received 12.8 billion in federal Medicaid funds to support health care spending in the current $56 billion state budget.

But the next budget is complicated by structural deficits.

Jersey's tightening its belt.

We don't have an extra $12 billion laying around the government.

It is an unachievable number.

They can't just say push it off.

Even 10% of that is a remarkably huge number that we can't hope to find a way to replace that at the state level.

It's just not there.

Kauffman said federal funding pays for 50% of New Jersey's Medicaid programs.

And representatives from those programs claimed cuts could devastate their ability to provide critical care for New Jersey's 2 million Medicaid recipients.

One advocate said it had four states to play what she called a deadly game of life boat.

Who do we throw off?

Will it be the person with disabilities, our seniors, our children, our low income workers?

Who will it be?

What we can't do as a nation or as human beings is to take people and put them off of health care so that Elon Musk can have a little more money in his pocket.

But Republican House speaker Mike Johnson's launched his own political PR campaign, arguing their budget would not cut benefits.

It's non benefit related reforms to the program, right?

Medicaid is infamous for fraud, waste and abuse.

I mean, by some estimates, large percentages of the dollars that are that are allocated there are wasted and stolen.

With a bare GOP majority.

Speaker Johnson can only afford to lose 1 or 2 votes on this measure, but a handful of Republicans have already expressed some alarm.

State Senator Robert Singer's troubled by a potential impact on services.

We're concerned that the federal government is talking about block grant, that a lot of things that will affect Medicaid.

That will affect a lot of the programs that we do from week on down as to what we'll be able to deliver in the state.

As the GOP D.C. delegation scroungers for enough savings to justify the president's promised $4.5 billion tax cut, new Jersey Congressman Jeff Van Drew noted on Monday.

Hopefully we learned our lesson from a number of years ago with Obamacare.

If you're going to take people's health care away, you damn well better have something to replace it with.

It's life and death for people.

New Jersey's three Republican congressmen had no comment today.

Last night on Fox, the president offered reassurances.

Medicare, Medicaid.

None of that stuff is going to be nothing.

I want to get after the president keeps saying and must keep saying, oh, we're not cutting Medicaid.

That is simply not true.

We have to stand up.

We have to say with one loud, clear, huge voice.

You can't do this.

This is wrong.

The House is expected to vote on its budget sometime next week, and the president prefers it over the Senate's version.

Republicans hope to merge the two in a process called reconciliation, which would require a simple majority to pass.

I'm Brenda Flanagan, NJ Spotlight News.