After a 26-and-a-half-hour markup, Republicans on Wednesday advanced the health care section of the GOP’s sweeping tax bill that would slash Medicaid spending by hundreds of billions of dollars.

Republicans' proposed Medicaid cuts will cause 8.6 million people to lose health insurance by 2034, an estimate shows. Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said it will cost Republicans seats in Congress.

Central to the savings are changes to Medicaid, which provides almost free health care to more than 70 million Americans, and the Affordable Care Act,

House Republicans aim to cut federal spending by $2 trillion, hitting Medicaid and other programs. How the cuts could impact millions of Americans.

Republicans and Democrats grew weary in the early hours of Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill as they slogged through at-times contentious debate over provisions in President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package.

Tax breaks tallying more than $5 trillion — but also sizable reductions in Medicaid health care, food stamps for older Americans and green energy strategies to fight climate change — are all up for debate Tuesday as the House Republicans launch marathon public hearings on their “big,

Medicaid cuts would also mean billions of dollars in lost federal aid and hundreds of thousands of people losing access to the program.