In one of the most brazen political reversals in recent memory, Wisconsin Representative Derrick Van Orden is trying to cast himself as a champion of healthcare—despite having just voted for Donald Trump’s devastating budget bill that slashed Medicaid and imperiled hundreds of thousands of his constituents.

Van Orden, a hardline Republican and vocal supporter of Trump’s “America First” agenda, cheered the passage of the president’s megabudget, which included sweeping cuts to Medicaid funding nationwide. In Wisconsin alone, experts estimate that over 250,000 people could lose healthcare access because of the bill’s new eligibility restrictions and funding reductions.

But now, as public backlash mounts, Van Orden is scrambling to rewrite the narrative.

In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Van Orden claimed he was instrumental in securing funding to protect Wisconsin’s hospitals and maintain Medicaid coverage. He pointed to a letter he sent to Democratic Governor Tony Evers on July 2, urging swift passage of the state budget—which includes a provision to increase the state’s Medicaid provider tax rate before it could be frozen under Trump’s federal bill. That boost would allow Wisconsin to draw down nearly $1 billion more in federal Medicaid funding annually.

Van Orden quickly began taking credit, touting his support as critical to ensuring “continued access to quality healthcare for all Wisconsinites.” But according to Evers’ office, that narrative is not only misleading—it’s a complete fabrication.

“Congressman Van Orden never personally advocated to the governor or our office for the hospital assessment provision to be included in the state budget until after it was clearly already part of the state budget,” said Britt Cudaback, Evers’ communications director. “He had nothing to do with it.”

Cudaback went further, saying that bipartisan state budget negotiations were already finalized by the time Van Orden sent his letter, and that his so-called advocacy came only after Evers had already decided to sign the budget. “It was only then that Congressman Van Orden reached out to tell the governor and our office something we already knew and had long planned for,” she said.

To many observers, the move reeks of political opportunism—an attempt to mask the damage caused by Van Orden’s own vote for a federal budget that gutted healthcare protections for the poor and working-class families.

“Put simply, if Congressman Van Orden wanted to take credit for supporting Medicaid and protecting Wisconsinites’ access to healthcare,” Cudaback said, “perhaps he shouldn’t have voted to gut Medicaid and kick 250,000 Wisconsinites off their healthcare.”

The contradiction is hard to ignore: Van Orden voted for a bill that could wreck his state’s Medicaid system—then, as state leaders scrambled to pass a workaround, he stepped in at the eleventh hour to claim victory for a rescue plan he had no hand in creating.

Healthcare advocates have denounced the congressman’s actions as cynical and dishonest. “This is performative politics at its worst,” said Laura Stein, a spokesperson for Protect Our Care Wisconsin. “Van Orden endangered people’s health, and now he’s trying to clean up the optics.”

As the fallout from Trump’s megabudget continues, lawmakers like Van Orden may find themselves under increasing pressure to defend their records—not just with press releases and tweets, but with accountability. In Wisconsin, where access to healthcare is a life-or-death issue for many, voters are already watching closely.