President Donald Trump's fellow Republicans in the U.S. Congress are weighing steep cuts to the Medicaid health program as part of a wide-ranging budget package that also would cut taxes and raise spending on defense and border security.

House Republican proposals to slash government spending on Medicaid could devastate the insurance program that covers 40 percent of District residents.

President Donald Trump and House Republicans are slated to meet to wrangle over one of the thorniest issues dividing the party: whether to cut Medicaid benefits for millions of low-income Americans.