Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., called out members of the Republican Party's "Wall Street wing" for turning their backs on President Donald Trump and working-class Americans by demanding cuts to Medicaid.
Although Trump has said he wants working-class tax cuts and he aims to "protect Medicare and Social Security for our great seniors with no cuts, and we will defend Medicaid for those great people that are in need," the social healthcare program is proving to be a sticking point to a final federal budget agreement.
That, despite 64% of Republicans holding a favorable view of Medicaid, about 1 in 6 personally having been on the program, and more than 80% of Americans opposing significant cuts to Medicaid.
Hawley, in an opinion column Monday for The New York Times, blamed "a noisy contingent of corporatist Republicans," who comprise "the party's Wall Street wing," for wanting Congress to "get back to the old-time religion: corporate giveaways, preferences for capital, and deep cuts to social insurance."
"This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor," Hawley wrote. "But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal."
Hawley explained that Medicaid "is a federal program that provides healthcare to low-income Americans in partnership with state governments." It serves more than 70 million Americans.
"As for Missouri, it is one of 40 Medicaid expansion states — because our voters wanted it that way," Hawley wrote. "In 2020, the same year Mr. Trump carried the Missouri popular vote by a decisive margin, voters mandated that the state expand Medicaid coverage to working-class individuals unable to afford health care elsewhere. Voters went so far as to inscribe that expansion in our state constitution."
The senator added that 21% of Missourians benefit from Medicaid or CHIP, the companion insurance program for lower-income children, and many of the state's rural hospitals and health providers depend on the funding from these programs.
"All of which means this: If Congress cuts funding for Medicaid benefits, Missouri workers and their children will lose their health care," Hawley wrote. "And hospitals will close. It's that simple. And that pattern will replicate in states across the country."
Hawley also condemned The Wall Street Journal editorial board's push for substantial Medicaid cuts. "Following The Journal's prescriptions would represent the end of any chance of us becoming a working-class party," Hawley wrote.
"Republicans need to open their eyes: Our voters support social insurance programs. More than that, our voters depend on those programs. And there's a reason for this that Republicans would do well to ponder. Our economy is increasingly unfriendly to working people and their families."
Which is why Congress "should be doing everything possible to aid these working families, to make their health care better and more affordable," he said.
"We should cap prescription drug costs, as I have recently proposed. We should give every family in America with children a hefty tax cut. What we should not do is eliminate their health care," Hawley wrote.