Missouri’s ‘worst sitting senator’ Josh Hawley wants to fix the bad bill he literally just voted for

Republican Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri has introduced new legislation to reverse the Medicaid cuts that were part of his party’s domestic policy megabill, which he voted for just two weeks ago. The reversal aims to double the funding for rural hospitals from $50 billion to $100 billion and remove certain tax restrictions that were included in the original bill.

According to MSNBC, the senator’s actions follow a confusing pattern of statements and votes regarding Medicaid funding. In late June, Hawley openly criticized his party’s planned Medicaid cuts, stating that Republicans needed to “do some soul-searching” if they wanted to be a working-class party. However, just days later, on July 1, he voted in favor of the megabill that included these very same cuts.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial board previously stated that Hawley has ‘an unparalleled record of demagoguery on the Senate floor, where he endlessly spews faux-populist sound and fury signifying nothing,’ concluding that ‘beyond any partisan considerations, Josh Hawley is quite possibly the worst sitting senator in America right now,’ joining the ranks of public figures who have faced major scandals and controversies.”

The timeline shows senators’ contradicting positions on Medicaid cuts

A clear timeline reveals Hawley’s shifting stance on the issue. On June 28, he spoke against the Medicaid cuts. Three days later, he voted for the bill containing these cuts. By July 9, he was again publicly condemning the same cuts he had supported. Finally, on July 15, he introduced legislation to reverse some of these cuts.

The GOP’s domestic policy megabill, called the One Big Beautiful Bill, includes significant Medicaid cuts that would affect low-income families and Americans with disabilities. These cuts were designed to help pay for tax breaks for wealthy Americans.

In May, Hawley wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times where he strongly stated that “we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid” and argued that reducing health insurance for working poor people would be “both morally wrong and politically suicidal.”

Hawley now warns his fellow Republicans that they risk facing voter backlash if they don’t oppose their own Medicaid cuts, though his own contradictory positions may be damaging his political standing in ways similar to how other public figures have ruined their careers through poor decisions. This warning comes despite the fact that he himself supported these cuts through his vote for the megabill just weeks ago. His new bill specifically aims to prevent what he calls “any future cuts to Medicaid from going into effect.”