Medicaid Expansion Bill Fails to Pass Michigan Senate,Sen. Colbeck refuses to vote
The Michigan Senate has voted down HB 4714, the Medicaid expansion bill. The bill would have expanded the number of people eligible for Medicaid in Michigan.
The Senate vote ended in a vote of 19 for to 18 against, which was an insufficient number to pass the bill; 20 votes were necessary to pass the bill. The Senate made a motion to reconsider the bill, then went into recess.
WILX's Josh Sidorowicz is on the scene at the Capitol in Lansing, and will be have the complete story for News 10.
http://www.wilx.com/news/headlines/BREAKING-Michigan-Senate-221381951.html?ref=951
Michigan Medicaid Expansion In Legislative Limbo
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/michigan-medicaid-expansion-in-legislative-limbo
A Michigan bill to expand Medicaid under Obamacare is currently in legislative purgatory after a state senator refused to cast a vote, therefore stymying its passage.
The bill needs 20 votes out of the 38-member Senate to pass. It received 19 yay votes and 18 nay votes in a floor vote Tuesday afternoon, but Republican Sen. Patrick Colbeck, who is vehemently opposed to expansion, refused to cast a vote on the bill. If he had cast a nay vote, leaving a 19-19 tie, then Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley could have cast a tiebreaking vote to pass the bill, as Calley has pledged to do.
But because Colbeck didn't vote, the bill failed when it didn't reach the 20-vote threshold. The Senate then immediately voted 21-17 to reconsider the vote and went into recess so the party caucuses could meet.
Colbeck called the bill "morally reprehensible" during a five-minute speech on the Senate floor prior to the vote.
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