The Senate’s loudest Republican defender of Medicaid is keeping his powder dry on the House GOP’s “big beautiful bill” to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO), whose support is crucial for a so-called budget reconciliation bill but is contingent on preserving Medicaid,

The Republican senator from Missouri called potentially deep cuts in the program “morally wrong” and “politically suicidal” for his party as it courts working-class voters.

A Republican representative told his fellow party members Monday that they are committing political suicide by threatening to cut Medicaid. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley wrote a New York Times op-ed Monday warning other Republicans that the Trump administration’s pursuit to axe support for the lower class is “both morally wrong and politically suicidal.