Sen. Josh Hawley is sounding the alarm that Republicans should avoid deep cuts to Medicaid in the budget reconciliation process.
In an op-ed published in The New York Times on Monday, the Missouri Republican senator took aim at what he called the “party’s Wall Street wing” for advocating to have the federal program face deep cuts.
The op-ed comes as the House Commerce and Energy Committee will mark up the Medicaid portion of the budget reconciliation text on Tuesday. Hawley himself was subject to an article May 2 in The Wall Street Journal that took him to task for purportedly flip-flopping on the issue.
In his editorial column, the Missouri senator noted that Medicaid serves “over 70 million Americans, including well over 1 million residents of Missouri.”
Hawley described the extensive support for the program in his home state. Missouri enshrined Medicaid expansion in the state constitution. That has resulted in 21% of residents of the state benefiting from Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. He predicted that cuts to the program could result in the closure of rural hospitals that rely on the federal program’s funding to operate.
Hawley also came out in support of capping prescription drug costs, something President Donald Trump has also supported, signing an executive order aimed at accomplishing that goal on Monday.
The president has also ostensibly signaled that he does not want to tank the social safety net program.
“We are doing absolutely nothing to hurt Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. Nothing at all,” Trump said in April. The Missouri senator argued that Trump’s instincts about funding for federal benefits are correct, noting a January poll that 64% of Republicans hold a very favorable or somewhat favorable view of Medicaid.
Hawley justified preserving Medicaid on the grounds that it alleviates some of the suffering that working-class people face in an economy that is increasingly unfriendly to them.
“For the better part of 50 years, working wages have been flat in real terms. Working people cannot afford to get married when they want to, have the number of children they want to or raise those children as they would like,” Hawley explained.
“These days, they can barely afford to put a roof over their kids’ heads, to say nothing of health care,” he continued.
For their part, Democrats appear united in their opposition to Medicaid cuts.
“In no uncertain terms, millions of Americans will lose their health care coverage, hospitals will close, seniors will not be able to access the care they need, and premiums will rise for millions of people if this bill passes,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Hawley and Pallone both framed the cuts to Medicaid, coupled with tax cuts, as prioritizing corporate interests over those of working-class Americans.
“Republicans finally released the bill they’ve been drafting behind closed doors for months to make catastrophic cuts to Americans’ health care all so they can give tax breaks to billionaires and corporate interests,” Pallone said.
Hawley described the move as one of Republican “old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital, and deep cuts to social insurance.”
Hawley concluded that in order to be a majority party, the Republicans need to double down as a party of the working class.
