Supporters of expanding Medicaid are celebrating movement in the House of Delegates after many years of resistance. The House included an expansion in its state budget proposal released over the weekend.
The expansion still has to get through the Senate, though, which did not include the effort in its budget version.
Usually it’s the state Senate that leads on progressive issues and the House of Delegates drags its feet. Not this year, though. House members are moving forward with expanding Medicaid to 400,000 people who live in poverty or with disabilities.
Republican Senator Emmett Hanger of Augusta County is the lone GOP vote in the Senate so far, and he’s not sure which of his colleges could join him. “I wouldn’t venture to guess on that right now," Hanger said. "I think it’ll be a collective kind of thing where you reach a tipping point where it makes sense. So I’m not working on any individuals right now to try to convince them otherwise. I’m just working on a product.”
Lieutenant Governor Justin Fairfax cannot break ties on budget votes, so Democrats need to peel off one more vote on the other side the aisle. Senator Roslyn Dance, a Democrat from Petersburg, says she feels confident that will happen, although she doesn’t want to name names just yet. “I’m not giving it up, but I’ll tell you what — I’m cautiously optimistic that once both sides have an opportunity to tweak what will be the final product, it won’t be just what the House brought out it will be the House and Senate’s product.”
Dance says she’s willing to come back to Richmond after the governor amends the budget, when a showdown could stretch on until a final deadline when the new fiscal year begins in July.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
