'A nightmare scenario': GOP senator warns Trump’s bill may be headed for collapse
President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” may be headed for collapse
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is warning that sweeping Republican health care legislation included in the bill is in serious jeopardy — calling the prospect of sending it to a conference committee a “nightmare scenario,” Axios reported Friday.
Hawley is urging Senate leaders to fix it fast.
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“I just think the idea of having now to go to a conference committee with the House because they say, well, we can’t pass this... I mean, good lord, that’s just a nightmare scenario,” Hawley told Axios.
The Missouri senator, who has emerged as the most vocal Republican critic of Medicaid cuts, is outraged that the Senate bill goes beyond the House version in slashing Medicaid spending.
He's pressing leaders to remove or revise the new provisions before they derail the entire effort.
“It seems to me that now we’re in a place where this provision is threatening the entire bill, and we just don’t have time for that,” he told Axios.
Trump reportedly wants the bill signed into law by July 4, and that deadline was reiterated to GOP senators this week by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
But friction between the two chambers of Congress is casting doubt on whether the plan can even survive, per the report.
Revisions to Medicaid and the state and local tax deduction (SALT) cap are a particular concern. Several House Republicans believe the current version simply can’t pass.
House Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) team has privately said he wasn’t consulted on the Senate changes, according to reporting from Punchbowl News.
While Hawley opposes the Senate’s Medicaid cuts, he’s expressed openness to a compromise.
He’s said he would support the House’s approach to the Medicaid provider tax, which would freeze it at 6%.
Earlier this week, he told reporters he’s been sharing alternative ideas with leadership — particularly aimed at shielding rural hospitals, which many Republicans worry would be hit hardest under the Senate proposal.
