Sen. Josh Hawley is warning his own party’s push to overhaul Medicaid could be politically perilous, just hours after House Republicans revealed a major plan to do so that could lead to millions losing coverage.
“A noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans — call it the party’s Wall Street wing — is urging Congress to ignore all that and get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital and deep cuts to social insurance,” Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said in a New York Times op-ed Monday. “This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor. But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”
Hawley has been a persistent skeptic of significant changes to Medicaid to help pay for the GOP’s megabill central to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda on taxes, energy and the border.
House Republicans have been weighing some controversial changes to the health safety-net program, including per-capita caps on federal payments to states like Missouri that have expanded Medicaid through the Democrats’ 2010 health law. The House Republican proposal, released late Sunday night, would not have the Energy and Commerce Committee find $880 billion in savings by pursuing that specific overhaul. It would, however, likely force states to revamp how they finance their programs or cut benefits, along with new cost-sharing requirements for beneficiaries in the program.
Democrats released preliminary Congressional Budget Office estimates they requested Sunday night, which found that more than 8.6 million people would go uninsured if the health portions of the GOP’s party-line package became law — resulting in cuts of at least $715 billion. Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) has defended the proposal, arguing it would preserve the program for the most vulnerable.
Hawley’s opposition is a sign of some of the potential hurdles the House plan could face if it clears the chamber and reaches the Senate, which has a slim GOP majority and several Republicans wary of a major overhaul.
The senator didn’t directly address the details of that proposal, saying the House will “begin to hash out its differences in negotiations this week.” But he said the electoral consequences could be stark if Republicans move forward with major cuts.
“If Republicans want to be a working-class party — if we want to be a majority party — we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America’s promise for America’s working people,” Hawley wrote.
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