With a deadline fast approaching for the Senate to vote on the expiring Affordable Care Act subsidies, far-right Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) issued a warning to his own party to come up with some alternative — any alternative — to what Democrats are proposing.
If not, he refused to commit to voting against the Democrats' proposal, which would be a clean extension of the subsidies for three years.
"Republicans had better offer something. I mean, what signal will it send if Republicans say, 'we're going to say no to the Democrats' plan. But we're not gonna offer anything?' The message that will send is: 'Good luck to the American people, we don't really care,'" Hawley told Politico's Burgess Everett.
Asked whether he could vote for the Democratic proposal in this scenario, Hawley said, "Everything is on the table. What I am not going to do, is do nothing. That is just not responsible."
Hawley got his start in politics as a hardliner against the Affordable Care Act, even pushing a lawsuit as Missouri Attorney General to try to get the law thrown out entirely. In recent months, however, he has grown wary of the GOP taking the blame for loss of health coverage, even introducing legislation to restore the money cut out of Medicaid by President Donald Trump's tax cut megabill.
This comes as Sens. Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA) introduce their own proposal that they hope the GOP can coalesce behind, which they call the Health Care Freedom for Patients Act. Among other things, this bill would promote use of high-deductible catastrophic plans and health savings accounts, while requiring new restrictions on states to ensure they aren't enrolling unauthorized immigrants and banning gender transition care as a health benefit.
At the same time, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bernie Moreno (R-OH) have a competing alternative that extends the subsidies for two years, while introducing income caps and a minimum premium requirement as a fraud prevention mechanism.