The House’s Proposed Medicaid Cuts Are Already Fizzling in the Senate

House conservatives have already raised massive concerns about the most contentious piece of the House’s reconciliation bill. Senate Republicans also aren’t biting, though many for different reasons.

Sen. Josh Hawley speaks to reporters.
Sen. Josh Hawley is seen in the U.S. Capitol. Tom Williams/AP

In the House, even with conservatives and moderates largely aligned on the idea of cutting Medicaid, passing those cuts in the massive reconciliation bill would be a political feat for Republican leaders, particularly when you consider how different factions of the House GOP want different cuts greatly varying in scope.

But in the Senate, passing any substantial Medicaid reductions won’t be so easy.

On Monday, Sen. Josh Hawley penned a blistering op-ed in The New York Times urging Republicans to abandon Medicaid cuts, drawing on President Donald Trump’s declaration last week that Republicans “are doing absolutely nothing to hurt Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Nothing at all.”