Hawley did Not Have the Courage to Vote Against Trump
This piece deserves a descriptive header by me. I will try . . .
“first-term tax cuts) outweighed his concerns” Concerns by Hawley about what? People losing healthcare or concerns Trump will banish him and pick on him? The number also keep changing. An ~ 10 million people will lose access to US funded healthcare and will be on their own for healthcare. I believe the thought here being “Trump and Republicans just showed them the door.”
And Hawley is concerned?
You served your purpose by voting for me. Thank you and good bye.
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“Hawley ultimately joined almost every other Republican in Congress and voted for the bill” to take away Medicaid from people who can not afford healthcare. He did not have to vote for it. Talk is big but action is even bigger. Josh caved to Trump. The story . . .
“Why Josh Hawley Is Trying to Reverse Medicaid Cuts He Voted For,” The Atlantic
Because he knows it is wrong?
“For months, no Republican in either the House or the Senate spoke out more forcefully, or more consistently, against cutting Medicaid than Josh Hawley. As President Donald Trump’s ‘big beautiful bill’ was weaving its way through Congress, Hawley argued repeatedly that stripping health insurance from the poorest Americans would be “morally wrong and politically suicidal” for a party that, in the Trump era, has relied on millions of votes from people who receive government assistance.
Back home in Missouri, the senator was making the same case in private, according to several people I spoke with who met with him or his staff this year. His deep engagement on the issue impressed advocates representing Missouri’s hospitals, doctors, and rural health centers, all of whom were having trouble getting GOP lawmakers to take their concerns seriously. The changes, these advocates argued, could cost Missouri billions of dollars in federal funding, take away insurance from an estimated 170,000 residents, and force hospitals and rural health centers to close.
Amy Blouin, the president of the Missouri Budget Project, a nonpartisan think tank, told me. ‘I did believe that he was genuine. I do see him as a different type of Republican.’
Hawley ultimately joined almost every other Republican in Congress and voted for the bill, which independent analysts project will cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and leave 10 million Americans newly uninsured. With three Republicans opposing the legislation in the narrowly divided Senate, Hawley’s support proved decisive.
In a statement, Hawley said the bill’s benefits (the extension of Trump’s first-term tax cuts) outweighed his concerns. Josh told a reporter. ‘Gotta take the wins where you can.’
Then, last week, Hawley’s Medicaid journey took yet another turn when he introduced legislation to prevent some of the deepest reductions from taking effect essentially proposing to repeal a major provision of the legislation he had just voted to enact.
Hawley’s contortions on the bill were perhaps the starkest illustration of how a Republican Party, under pressure to deliver a quick win for the president, ends up slashing a core social-safety-net program much more deeply than many people expected. More than Trump, some of its own members, wanted. Republicans and Hawley are only now assessing the fallout from their enactment of such a far-reaching law.”
Polls find the bill is unpopular . . . duh! The Medicaid cuts are cruel. Republicans knew the impact of them Yet, few did anything to block the bill. Or even voice an opinion against the bill. The law does delay its most painful provisions until after the 2026 midterm elections. However, how are they going to pay for reinstalling Medicaid for the population needing it? Trump just shifted the burden on to others.
“Trump himself won’t face voters again, so lawmakers like Hawley will be left to deal with the bill’s political and real-world consequences.” No shit Atlantic! So Hawley weaseled out.
So, Josh had to make a decision? Do I vote for what is right or just follow the crowd and the politics. As you can see, Josh’s feet were made of clay. He went with the crowd. Josh lacks the courage to stand alone against Trump and he just proved it. If he fails to get some type of reversal, it will be an “oh well, I tried.”
Unreal . . .
I know AB has covered this, but how about a reminder of what the principal changes to Medicaid were? I followed a link, that was readable for an interesting couple paragraphs, but hit the paywall before really getting to details. I remember two. First was able-bodied adults “can’t” be on Medicaid. There were several exceptions. The argument over this was confusing to me as one vector was it wasn’t worth doing as so few were on it that did not qualify for an exemption that the administration was an inefficient use of resources. Another was that large numbers who actually qualified for the allowed exemptions would not correctly document this and be removed. I’m not too convinced that the later is much of a long-term obstacle really. I feel confident there will be good help available for folks that might need it. The last two churches I’ve been a member of have each helped hundreds of folks each year with exactly these kinds of things – and you didn’t need to be in the church. There are tens of thousands of churches and other organizations and individual who will be helping here. Within a couple of cycles, this kind of error will get close to zero. Curious if the CBO scored the law on a strict basis of who won’t be eligible or if they also scored something for eligible people not staying in the program. The other one I remember was capping Medicaid providers taxes. There is no specific reason that will impact eligibility that I can think of. It reduces the ability of a state to inflate the cost of services to get more federal dollars (State A adds $20 tax to a service, gets the Feds to pay their example 70% on it ($14) they in turn pay $6, but have the $20 from the tax). It’s generous that the law did not cap this obvious scheme at 0%. It’s a real change but I can’t see how that changes who is eligible. There must be other changes I don’t recall.
@Eric,
The Truth About the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s Cuts to Medicaid and Medicare