Chance of Special Session Diminishes With Senate Vote

Governor Waiting for Word From U.S. House

 


UPDATE: 5 p.m. Wednesday with reaction from Lisa Brown

By Erik Smith

Staff writer/ Washington State Wire

OLYMPIA, Aug. 4—A preliminary vote in the U.S. Senate Wednesday morning for a $26 billion Medicaid payment package sounds like good news to the governor’s office. It could mean the state will avoid having to make deep cuts in spending this summer – and legislative Democrats won’t have to worry about a special session.

            The U.S. Senate voted 61-38 to allow the Medicaid measure proceed to a final vote. That was its biggest hurdle. Sixty votes are required on the procedural motion, but only a majority vote – 51 – is required for final passage.

            At stake for Washington in the measure is $480 million in federal money, and lawmakers counted on it when they wrote their budget earlier this year. But Congress started getting skittish because of uproar over federal bailouts – and passage of the measure appeared increasingly dicey.

            News reports indicate that a Republican filibuster in the Senate was broken when Maine Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe bolted from their party and voted with Democrats.

            Senate Was the Hard Part

            The view from this Washington was that the Senate vote was the hardest, and passage in the House will be much easier. Viet Shelton, spokesman for the governor’s office, said Gov. Christine Gregoire is in a wait-and-see mode. Earlier she had said that if no decision had come from Congress by Aug. 10, she would be forced to consider calling the Legislature back into session to balance the budget, or make across the board cuts herself. Failure to pass the bill would leave the state about $300 million in the red.

            Once the bill passes the Senate, he said, “the governor’s decision will depend on what we hear from our delegation and the House leadership about what their intention will be.”

            State officials are still hoping that the House, which has already adjourned for the month-long summer recess, may reconvene and pass the bill before the members depart for their home districts. And if it does not, they’ll have to decide whether a promise is good enough.

            Every day that the state waits to make cuts, the deeper they will have to be.

            Governor Pleased

            Gregoire issued a statement Wednesday morning:

            “I applaud the Senate for today’s vote extending FMAP support to the states. Moving forward on the FMAP extension means Washington, and many other states, will not be forced to make drastic cuts that would have harmed both our citizens and our economic recovery. The Senate heard that now is not the time to lay off thousands or to eliminate medical services for those who need it the most. Such actions would have been devastating to Washington state by slowing our recovery and potentially pushing us toward a double dip recession. It is important to note that in light of the economy states have already cut their budgets, in Washington state we’ve cut $5.1 billion from the state budget.

            “While a final vote in the Senate is required, as well as a House vote, I anticipate that they will both act swiftly.

             “Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell were champions of this effort and I thank them for their tireless efforts to protect our people and our economy.