N.H. Lawmakers Vote To Expand Medicaid; Va. Still At Impasse
In New Hampshire, the legislature approved the bill and sent it to the governor. The Virginia House, controlled by Republicans who oppose an expansion of the program for low-income residents, approved a budget that does not accept the governor's request for expansion.
The Wall Street Journal: New Hampshire Is Set To Expand Medicaid Under Health Law
New Hampshire's legislature on Tuesday voted to expand the state's Medicaid program under the federal health law, making it the 26th state to do so. The decision to opt into a core provision of the Affordable Care Act is a big win for the Obama administration. It has been trying to persuade states to agree to expand their programs after the Supreme Court decided in June 2012 that their participation was effectively optional (Radnofsky, 3/25).
The Associated Press/Washington Post: House Republicans Assail Republicans Over Budget
The Virginia GOP-controlled House of Delegates passed a budget Tuesday and then mocked their Senate colleagues for having left town without passing a budget of their own. ... The move was the latest in an ongoing and long-running public relations tussle between Republican and Democratic lawmakers over whether Virginia should undergo a large-scale expansion of its Medicaid program. The General Assembly adjourned earlier this month without passing a budget because of the impasse on Medicaid, and there has been little sign the two sides are anywhere closer to an agreement than they were several months ago (3/25).
Norfolk Virginian-Pilot: Republican Budget Proposal Clears Virginia House
Republicans in the House of Delegates put that question to the test by taking their version of the two-year, $96 billion budget to the vacant Senate after approving it on a 68-31 vote Tuesday night. The House left a “Gone Home” sign and a copy of its budget outside the dark, vacant Senate chamber. The move had a theatrical purpose: to show that while the House was focused on the budget impasse in Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s special session, members of the party that controls the state Senate had left after just one day (Walker, 3/26).
