This Week in Statehouse Action: Pompous and Circumstance edition
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Happy graduation season! As the youths say goodbye to various educational institutions and prepare to embark on even more schooling, gainful employment, or soul-crushing job hunts, it feels right and proper to check in on the state lawmakers who craft so maThis Week in Statehouse Action: Pompous and Circumstance edition
Happy graduation season! As the youths say goodbye to various educational institutions and prepare to embark on even more schooling, gainful employment, or soul-crushing job hunts, it feels right and proper to check in on the state lawmakers who craft so many of the policies that affect grads’ ability to afford more school, succeed in their chosen field, or endure a period of time with little or no income. Campaign Action So cheerful! Screw it, let’s party. Live Like We’re Dying: Last week in this space, I talked about a “nuclear option” that Virginia Senate Democratic leadership might use this week to force a floor vote on expanding Medicaid through the state’s budget. Yeah, the finger’s still hovering over the launch button. On Tuesday, the state Senate reconvened in Richmond so Republicans could drag their feet some more over expanding healthcare access to over 300,000 Virginians, basically. Despite the fact that a key Republican on the budget-writing Senate Finance Committee had worked out a Medicaid expansion provision with his GOP counterpart in the state House (which has already voted to expand Medicaid), Senate Majority Leader Tommy Norment demanded that senators come back again next week to debate and—hopefully—vote on the final budget. Democratic Senate Leader Dick Saslaw backed off—temporarily—of his threat to force the budget to the floor for a vote via an extraordinarily rare discharge motion. He’s vowed to pull the discharge maneuver next week if GOP leadership remains obstinate. … and by GOP leadership, I mostly mean Norment, whose frustration with his (likely) inevitable legislative defeat (he’s ardently opposed Medicaid expansion from the get-go) revealed itself as he ranted on the Senate floor about rumors that he’d retire if he lost this battle. He swore to “be here in 2019 and 2020 to kick your ass.” Okay! Tune in next week, same Bat-time, same Bat-channel, to see if Virginia has a Medicaid-expanding budget yet! Read more