Senator Hawley opposed the Affordable Care Act — the very law that enabled Missouri’s Medicaid expansion, which he now claims to defend. He backed Trump-era budgets that proposed deep cuts to Medicaid. Now, with polls showing broad public support for programs like Medicaid, he’s repositioning himself as a populist champion of the working class.

That's why House lawmakers and President Trump keep insisting they simply want to target "waste, fraud, and abuse" in Medicaid, "all without cutting off assistance to a single eligible person." The flaw in that argument is that Medicaid cuts of the scope they're proposing could torpedo state budgets and cause millions of hardworking Americans to lose coverage—facts that Democrats will not let "go unnoticed.

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is warning against his own party’s push to slash Medicaid spending, just hours after House Republicans released legislation that could save billions of dollars and make

Editorial: Hawley’s history is as problematic as any Republican on health care, but his project to remake himself as a populist friend of working people may have meat to it.

Mr. Trump himself has been crystal clear on this point. Since taking office, he has repeatedly rejected calls for Medicaid benefit cuts. Just the other week, he said: “We are doing absolutely nothing to hurt Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Nothing at all.”

As they fight over the specifics of President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill," GOP lawmakers are expressing very different views on Medicaid. Some budget hawks in the House Freedom Caucus are calling for deep Medicaid cuts,

A little over four years later, Hawley is very much still a conservative, fighting to ban abortion access and take away basic rights for transgender people. But he has also emerged as perhaps the Democrats’ most unlikely ally in fighting Republican efforts to slash the social safety net and reward the billionaire class that put President Donald Trump,

The Missouri Republican's support is crucial but contingent on preserving Medicaid, and he wants to first see what House Republicans can muster through their thin majority.

Trump tells GOP lawmakers not to 'f*** around with Medicaid' as he tries to convince House to move ahead with his spending bill

As President Donald Trump continues to push for a "big, beautiful bill" that will combine his legislative priorities, Republicans in Congress are fighting over the particulars — including Medicaid funding.