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Asa Hutchinson: Highway Plan Dead Without Medicaid Expansion

3 min read

LITTLE ROCK – Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Tuesday his plan to raise money for Arkansas’ highways is dead if the state’s hybrid Medicaid expansion ends, his latest warning to fellow Republicans who have vowed to defund the expanded coverage for thousands of poor people.

Hutchinson said he won’t put his proposal to tap into general revenue and surplus funds for state roads before lawmakers if the expanded coverage ends. Lawmakers last week approved Hutchinson’s proposal to keep and rework the expansion by large majorities, but shy of the three-fourths support the Medicaid budget bill funding the program will need. The Legislature will take up that measure at a session set to begin Wednesday.

“If Arkansas Works is not funded, that means there is no ability to utilize surplus and take more money from general revenue to fund highways,” Hutchinson said at a news conference at the state Capitol. “That is the bottom line. That is a real life consequence.”

Arkansas’ hybrid expansion uses federal funds to purchase private insurance for low-income residents and was created three years ago as an alternative to expanding Medicaid under the federal health law. Hutchinson has proposed adding new restrictions to the program, including a requirement that some participants pay premiums.

Hutchinson earlier this year said he would call a special session on his highway plan, which called for using some surplus money and gradually redirecting a portion of sales tax revenue from new and used vehicles to highways. The plan would increase highway funding by $46.9 million in the coming year, with most coming from the surplus.

Hutchinson’s warning came a day after House leaders detailed across-the-board cuts that state agencies would see if the Legislature doesn’t fund the hybrid expansion. The plan includes significant reductions for public schools, foster care, prisons and a host of other services.

The hybrid expansion has sharply divided Republicans, who control both chambers of the Legislature. Opponents say they want a separate vote on the program, but several have said they’re willing to vote against the entire Medicaid budget if it’s not stripped out.

Republican Sen. Bart Hester, one of the top opponents of the program, dismissed Hutchinson’s comments as scare tactics and said he believed the state’s highways are adequately funded.

“Everywhere I drive in Arkansas there are orange barrels,” Hester said. “To say we’re threatening to endanger our roads in some way because we don’t pass the Obamacare Medicaid expansion is silly.”

State Highway and Transportation Director Scott Bennett said dropping the highway plan also means the state wouldn’t be able to receive $200 million in annual matching federal funds for its road needs.

“What (drivers are) going to see is a drastic reduction in highway improvements around the state,” Bennett said.

The top Democrat in the House, meanwhile, said he wants the Legislature to take up the Medicaid budget at the start of this week’s session since the decision will affect other state agencies.

“If it were to ultimately fail, we’d have to go back and look at all these budgets again, so at some point why would we be willing to sit here and waste everybody’s money and time until we can address this issue?” House Minority Leader Michael John Gray, a Democrat from Augusta, told reporters.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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