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Medicaid Expansion: Stumbling Block for Virginia Budget

creative commons

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia lawmakers finished up the 2018 session Saturday without doing their most important job: passing a state budget.

They hit a stalemate because Republicans legislators can't agree on whether to expand Medicaid to about 300,000 low-income adults.

The GOP-controlled House backs it, while the Republican-led Senate opposes it. Lawmakers will go home while negotiations continue. The state government will shut down July 1 if no budget is passed.

In other areas, Republicans and Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam agreed to raise the threshold for what's considered felony larceny and approved a utility-backed overhaul of electric-monopoly regulations. Democratic priorities on some social areas - gun control in particular - had little success.

Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.