TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - The Latest on the Kansas Legislature’s debate on Medicaid expansion and the next state budget (all times local):
10:35 p.m.
Supporters of Medicaid expansion in the Kansas House have again blocked a proposed state budget in hopes of forcing a vote in the Senate on an expansion plan.
The vote Friday night was 81-42 against an $18.4 million spending blueprint for the budget year beginning in July. House and Senate negotiators drafted it after the House rejected a previous budget.
The new budget proposal was less generous than the first one. Republican leaders had warned Democrats and moderate Republicans supporting expansion that money would be stripped out of the proposed budget if negotiators were forced to resume their talks.
Even some expansion foes voted against the new plan. It removed $14 million in extra state funds for hospitals and could keep them from drawing down $250 million in federal funds.
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9:40 p.m.
Republican lawmakers in Kansas have produced a new budget proposal in an impasse over Medicaid expansion that would remove extra state dollars for hospitals and could cost them $250 million in federal funds.
Democrats and moderate Republicans who support Medicaid expansion blocked a proposed $18.4 billion budget in the House on Friday in hopes of forcing a vote in the Senate on an expansion plan. The House passed the plan in March.
Top Republicans want to wait until next year on expansion. The Kansas Hospital Association is a strong supporter of expansion.
After the House narrowly rejected the first budget plan, House and Senate negotiators resumed talks.
Their new proposal would remove an extra $14 million for hospitals. That in turn would keep them from drawing down more federal funds.
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3:40 p.m.
Kansas legislators who support expanding Medicaid have blocked the next state budget in hopes of forcing a vote on an expansion plan.
The Republican-led House voted 63-61 Friday against a proposed $18.4 billion spending blueprint for the budget year beginning July 1. The move sends the proposed budget back to the House and Senate negotiators who agreed on the details Thursday night.
Some Democrats and GOP moderates went into the debate on the measure saying they wanted to vote it down to push the GOP-controlled Senate’s top Republicans to allow a vote on Medicaid expansion.
The House passed an expansion plan in March, but the Senate has not debated it.
The vote dashed Republican leaders’ hopes of having lawmakers wrap up their business for the year Friday.
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10:30 a.m.
Kansas legislators who support expanding Medicaid plan to try to block passage of the next state budget in hopes of forcing a vote on an expansion plan.
The Republican-controlled House was scheduled to vote Friday on a proposed $18 billion-plus spending blueprint for the budget year beginning July 1. Its details were settled late Thursday by House and Senate negotiators.
House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer of Wichita said his fellow Democrats and moderate Republicans hope to vote the plan down to push the GOP-controlled Senate’s top Republicans to allow a vote on Medicaid expansion.
The House passed an expansion plan in March but the Senate has not debated it.
Republican leaders hoped the Legislature would wrap up its business for the year Friday and leave Medicaid expansion until next year.
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