Sen. Patty Murray
Washington U.S. Senator Patty Murray will speak in support of an amendment to extend Medicaid match money that many states have already factored into their budgets.
The Senate was supposed to take a vote Monday afternoon on Murray’s amendment restoring the money that was eliminated from an overall spending bill, but the vote was delayed until Tuesday or Wednesday.
Initially, the match was supposed to provide $480 million to Washington state. Murray’s amendment would provide a smaller amount of $16.1 billion in Medicaid money to the states, of which $320 million would go to Washington.
Governor Christine Gregoire is weighing whether to call a special session if the money, already tied to the state’s reserves, doesn’t come through. About 30 states wrote the money into their budgets. (AP)
