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.

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.

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

Dozens of Kern Residents stood in front of Congressman David Valadao's Bakersfield office to vote against proposed cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program.

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.

As a deadline to avoid a partial government shutdown nears, hesitation is surfacing among Washington’s Republican lawmakers