Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Friday that he prefers that the Legislature amend and then approve an appropriation bill that bars the state Department of Human Services from spending money on Arkansas' version of Medicaid expansion, so that he can issue a line-item veto of the ban in order to continue funding the program.
RELATED ARTICLE
http://www.arkansas…">Sanders: Legislators out of loop on bonuses for health-hub staff
The appropriation bill for the Human Services Department's Medical Services Division failed 25-10, two votes shy, in the Senate on Thursday. Meanwhile, the line-item veto strategy emerged as a possible way to get the bill through the Legislature, but an attempt to amend the bill in committee to add the ban failed later Thursday. The fiscal legislative session, which started Wednesday, resumes Tuesday.
"I just would rather have it resolved next week versus 10 votes down the road or three weeks down the road," the Republican governor told reporters in his office at the state Capitol.
The stance of Democratic state lawmakers about his "line-item veto strategy" will be important in determining whether it's successful, Hutchinson said. Most Democrats on the Joint Budget Committee voted against adding the ban.
House Democratic leader Michael John Gray of Augusta said later that he hoped the governor's preferred strategy would be to get two of the 10 Republican senators who voted against the legislation reauthorizing funding for the Medicaid expansion on Thursday to switch sides so "a clean bill" would clear the 35-member Senate with the required 27 votes.
"But we are not closing the door to any reasonable solution," Gray said.
Joint Budget Committee co-Chairman Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, said he supports Hutchinson's line-item veto plan "because the people will keep their health care [insurance].
"I think it will all work out ... and have enough support to get it done," he said.
The Medicaid expansion, enacted by the Legislature in 2013, extended medical coverage to adults with incomes of up to 138 percent of the poverty level: $16,394 for an individual, for instance, or $33,534 for a family of four. Most of the 267,000 people covered receive the coverage through the private option, which uses Medicaid funds to buy private insurance coverage.
The Joint Budget Committee on Thursday balked at amending the Medical Services Division appropriation to add the prohibition on spending funds on the Medicaid expansion, even with the tacit understanding that Hutchinson would issue a line-item veto of the ban if the amended bill reached his desk. Most Republicans voted for the amendment proposed by Senate Republican leader Jim Hendren of Sulphur Springs, while Democrats largely voted against it as the committee's 22-22 vote fell seven short of the 29 required for approval.
"Right now, I've got what I need on the Republican side, and, so if this is a process that can be supported by the Democrats with my assurance that Arkansas Works will be funded because of the line-item veto that I would exercise and that I am committed to, then we are achieving both consistency in your position, but also that outcome that 70 percent of the Legislature is supporting," Hutchinson said.
He declined to say how many of the 10 Republicans in the Senate who voted against the appropriation have agreed to support his line-item veto strategy. But two of them, Sen. Bart Hester of Cave Springs and Missy Irvin of Mountain View, later voted for Hendren's proposed amendment in the Joint Budget Committee.
Hutchinson said he respects, appreciates and understands some of the Democrats' reticence about his line-item veto strategy.
"They wanted to think it through. They might have wanted to talk to some of their constituents and advisers, so I fully understand that and that's the reason it is being carried over for the weekend," Hutchinson said.
"We need to diminish the personal angst about this and keep an eye on the 250,000 Arkansans that are watching very carefully what happens here as to whether or not they are going to have health care or not and, so I know those that care about this issue and the vast majority of Republicans and Democrats do care about those 250,000," Hutchinson said. "They want that end result, and this is a way to achieve that end result."
Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis said, "It's best for everybody to go home and take a deep breath and think about this [line-item veto strategy].
"Senators who are opposed to this [Medicaid expansion funding] are going to get an earful about being obstructionists," he said.
Hutchinson still has an opportunity to use his office to round up the votes of two more Republican senators for funding the Medicaid expansion, Ingram said.
The appropriation for the Medical Services Division would grant $8.4 billion in spending authority, including $1.7 billion for the Medicaid expansion, in the fiscal year starting July 1. Ten Republican senators voted against the appropriation, while 14 Republicans and 11 Democrats voted for it.
Earlier this week, House Speaker Jerry Gillam, R-Judsonia, said he's lined up at least the required 75 votes to approve the appropriation.
Legislation enacted in last week's special session would make operational changes in the Medicaid expansion program that Hutchinson has said would encourage enrollees to stay employed and take responsibility for their health care.
Those changes include charging premiums of about $19 a month to participants whose incomes are above the poverty level, subsidizing some enrollees' coverage through employer plans and referring some beneficiaries to job-training programs. The legislation calls the program Arkansas Works.
Through this fiscal year, the program was fully funded by the federal government. The state will begin paying 5 percent of the cost of the Medicaid expansion and its share gradually will increase up to 10 percent by 2020. The state funds to match the federal funds will be $43 million in fiscal 2017, said Amy Webb, a spokesman for the Department of Human Services.
Hutchinson said his line-item veto strategy "was not any more of a surprise to the Democrat team versus the Republican team. Both of them really had the strategy laid out for the first time, after the vote went down in the Senate.
"This is something that I thought of some time ago, but I did not share those thoughts broadly because I wanted to focus on getting the three-fourths vote," he said.
"I think at the same time, I've recognized this as a possibility. There were probably some other key legislators -- both Democrat and Republicans -- that might have thought this is something that is a constitutional prerogative of the governor and might be an option," Hutchinson said.
A simple majority vote of the House and Senate is required to overturn a veto by the governor. Legislation backing the Medicaid expansion plan, but not its funding, cleared both houses in last week's special session by majority votes well over 50 percent.
Ingram said the Joint Budget Committee's consideration of Hendren's amendment "was a little rushed" on Thursday.
"I never made a good business decision in a rush," he said.
Hutchinson said he isn't putting "all of our eggs in this basket" for the line-item veto strategy.
"This is really a legislative decision. They might come back and say, 'We don't want to do this,' and then we go back to our continued strategy to get the three-fourths vote. But at this point there seems to be a growing recognition that this is appropriate, accomplishes the objective and people are on board with making this work."
A Section on 04/16/2016