Here's how Congress could push Washington state lawmakers into a special session
The leader of the Washington state House of Representatives said the quiet part out loud this week: lawmakers should brace for a special session if Congress slashes funding for Medicaid, the health care program for lower-income Americans.
“We’re on a plan to finish our work by Sine Die. If they just decimate Medicaid, there’s no way to plan for that,” House Speaker Laurie Jinkins, D-Tacoma, told reporters on Wednesday. Such a move, she said, would put Washington and the rest of the country “in completely uncharted territory.”
The state Legislature is in the midst of a 105-day session that is scheduled to end April 27. Finishing on time is already going to be a challenge as legislators and Gov. Bob Ferguson wrestle with how best to plug a roughly $6 billion hole in the next two-year state budget.
Meanwhile, the Republican-led U.S. House passed a budget last week that assumes an extension of the 2017 tax cuts and $880 billion in reduced spending from an array of programs that include Medicaid and Medicare.
https://washingtonstatestandard.com/briefs/heres-how-congress-could-push-washington-state-lawmakers-into-a-special-session/