Both Brian Kirwin and Brian Schoeneman have given the “why not” arguments on Medicaid expansion here in the commonwealth – and the House of Delegates seems poised to stand firm.
A cursory look at the media, following McAuliffe’s Monday proclamation that Medicaid expansion will be a cornerstone of his first year in office, yields:
Appropriations Chair Chris Jones in the Virginian-Pilot:
“Perhaps he could have put a little more velvet on that glove over that iron fist.”
“Expansion of Medicaid I do not see this session. Period,” said the Suffolk Republican, who chairs the budget-writing House Appropriations Committee.
Majority Leader Kirk Cox to NBC29:
“I don’t think you’re going to have a lot of compromise when someone is saying you’ve got to vote on it now,” Cox said.
“We haven’t even seen the reforms go in place, so I would say that this session I do not see Medicaid expansion happening,” Cox said.
And Steve Landes, whose vice chairmanship of the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission makes him intimately familiar with the issue, took up the banner to the notoriously liberal Roanoke Times:
House GOP leaders have opposed Medicaid expansion, insisting that the program must be reformed and that the federal government can’t be trusted to fund its share of the cost. Some Republican lawmakers warned that McAuliffe could compromise some of his other priorities if he pushes too hard on Medicaid.
“We’re not anywhere near ready to expand because we don’t know that the reforms we’re working on now have demonstrated any real benefit,” said Del. Steve Landes, R-Augusta County, the vice chairman of the legislature’s Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission.
“I think he’s a little confused about the process,” Landes added. “The executive branch cannot dictate to the legislative branch how a legislative commission is to operate.”
Of course, we’re already seeing the Executive Branch in DC usurp the Constitution and attempt an end-around with respect to legislative gridlock. And McAuliffe has already legislated from the Executive Mansion with his first order.
So, the question remains, just what are the limits on executive authority and can it be held in check by the legislature? And, if McAuliffe doesn’t get his way on Medicaid Expansion through the General Assembly, how far is he willing to take executive privilege? If he follows the national model, he’s likely to go as far as he can.
So that means, what recourse does the legislature have to limit McAuliffe? Especially when conservative interpretation of the law no longer exists in the Office of the Attorney General.
