House Democrats voted Thursday to condemn guidelines from the Trump administration that would let states overhaul a portion of healthcare coverage for the poor.

The vote is symbolic and doesn't have any teeth but is part of the Democrats' political strategy leading up to the 2020 elections to force vulnerable Republicans to take tough healthcare votes. The program Democrats condemned relies on overhauling a part of Obamacare, a law that House Democrats have vowed to defend from President Trump's attacks.

No Republicans joined Democrats in supporting the resolution, which passed 223-190. Just one Democrat, Kurt Schrader of Oregon, joined Republicans to oppose it.

The resolution was to express "disapproval of the Trump administration’s harmful actions towards Medicaid." Democrats took issue with guidelines the Trump administration unveiled last week, under the name "Healthy Adult Opportunity," to let states accept a limited amount of money to cover poor people in exchange for flexibility in spending the funds. The plan is optional for states and would take months or even as long as a year for any individual state to take up.

Democrats regard the idea, known more commonly as a "Medicaid block grant," as a cut that will either limit what needy people can get from their coverage or cause them to become uninsured. Under the current Medicaid structure, the federal government matches a majority of what states pay for Medicaid every year. That structure allows for more funding in years where states face large expenses they cannot predict, such as rebuilding after a natural disaster or having to pay for an expensive new blockbuster drug.

"This White House has put Medicaid on the chopping block. ... This is about taking away healthcare to pay for their tax cuts," Democratic Rep. Bonnie Watson-Coleman of New Jersey said on the House floor.

Republicans counter that the idea gives states much-needed flexibility in how they spend the funds and ensures that the Medicaid program will be financially stable for the long term. Seema Verma, the Trump administration official who runs Medicaid and spearheaded the block grant idea, last week called the criticisms "hyperbole" on Twitter and stressed the idea was optional for states.

"Only in Washington is an attempt to slow the growth of a program to the rate of inflation considered a devastating cut," she wrote.

On Wednesday, Republican Reps. Greg Walden and Michael Burgess, who chair key health panels, sent a letter to protest the "rushed" vote ahead. They urged Democrats to hold a hearing about how block granting would work.

Speaking on the House floor Thursday, Burgess called the vote "a political statement made to diminish the efforts of the Trump administration."

"It is unreasonable and unrealistic for Democrats to declare this demonstration an attack on Medicaid after only a few days since the release of the plan," he said.

The plan the Trump administration puts forward applies only to the Medicaid expansion population that gained coverage under Obamacare. Before Obamacare, states varied in terms of Medicaid eligibility rules, but the program generally went toward pregnant women, people with disabilities, and the elderly. Those groups still get Medicaid now, but the program added low-income people as well, who qualify if they make less than roughly $17,000 a year.