Why it's spineless
Hawley went further than any other senator in the private-assurances game: on January 30, 2025, he announced he had "secured commitments" from Kennedy on four issues — rescinding the Biden gender-affirming-care mandate, reinstating the fetal-tissue-research funding ban, blocking Title X dollars to abortion providers, and implementing Trump's policies on mifepristone — then voted YES. A year later, Hawley wrote Kennedy an "alarmed" letter: HHS had extended Biden-era Title X grants to Planned Parenthood, "to my knowledge, no rulemaking process appears to have yet begun" on the promised Protect Life Rule, and "taxpayer money continues to flow to abortion providers." He traded his vote for promises Kennedy never kept.