In fall 1963, President Johnson pushed for the Civil Rights Act despite electoral risks, stating the presidency should promote policy. In contrast, many current Republican Congress members show uncertainty about their legislative purpose. Senator Josh Hawley represents this confusion. After criticizing Medicaid cuts in a major bill aimed at supporting working-class individuals, he subsequently voted for the same cuts. Despite vocalizing concerns about rural hospital funding, his actions contradicted his statements. He later proposed legislation to reverse earlier support for the Medicaid cuts, highlighting the inconsistency within his party's approach to important issues.
Senator Josh Hawley criticized Medicaid cuts included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in the form of work requirements. "If you want to be a working-class party, you've got to deliver for working-class people," he said. "You cannot take away health care from working people."
Three days later, Hawley voted for a bill that did exactly that. It also cut funding to rural hospitals, and yet, a few days later, he told NBC News, "I think that if Republicans don't come out strong and say we're going to protect rural hospitals, then, yeah, I think voters aren't going to like that."
This week, he introduced a bill to roll back some of the Medicaid cuts he'd voted for two weeks earlier. If Hawley didn't like the cuts, he could have voted to stop them.
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