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Virginia Special Session to Settle Budget and Medicaid Expansion

Virginia Capitol
creative commons
Virginia Capitol

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia lawmakers are coming back to the Capitol to try and pass a budget after failing to do so earlier this year.

Lawmakers are set to return Wednesday to open up a special session on the budget, but they aren't expected to do anything beyond procedural moves. Passage of a state spending plan is expected to take weeks or longer.

An intraparty feud between Republicans in the GOP-led General Assembly over whether to expand Medicaid has caused the budget stalemate.

Pro-expansion legislators appear to have the momentum after a key Republican senator announced he was switching positions last week, a move that gives lawmakers who favor Medicaid expansion a majority in both chambers of the GOP-led General Assembly.

But sticking points remain, and the passage of Medicaid expansion isn't guaranteed.

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.