Georgia Democrats are angry that their bill to expand Medicaid didn’t make it out of a Senate committee last week.
They say the Republican leaders broke a deal that said the whole Senate should vote on it.
There was only one vote between it and coming out.
The bill would be brought to the floor so that it could be debated, as agreed upon, according to State Sen. Gloria Butler (D).
Some Republicans, like Newnan’s State Sen. Matt Brass (R), have said in public that it’s time to talk about that failure, but the Democratic leadership didn’t bring it up on Wednesday.
“You know, some of us are more willing to talk about it. We hear the same comments over and over again. “They’re not leaving,” Brass said.
Democratic leaders said that the political stalemate that they say hurts Georgians was caused by Gov. Brian Kemp and the leadership of the GOP.
“And this session, once again, Georgia Republicans chose to look at patients in need with an easy way to help them and do nothing,” said State Rep. Michelle Au (D).
Democrats said Kemp’s Georgia Pathways to Coverage plan needs more time to work, even though the state has spent $26 million on it so far and only 3,500 people have signed up.
After the meeting, Savannah’s State Sen. Ben Watson (R) told Elliot that he thinks more people will sign up for Pathways.
“I think it’s great if we do reach 50,000 or 80,000 as they say we should.” Watson said, “I think we should wait and see about that.”
A Kemp’s office representative sent Channel 2 Action News a statement that, in part, said:
Since it began more than ten years ago, Medicaid growth has not been able to get through any committee in the General Assembly. Representative Park should start asking his fellow lawmakers to back him up.
The last day of the parliamentary session is Thursday.