Last week, the General Assembly passed a responsible, conservative budget that addresses our state's $1.5 billion revenue shortfall and does not include Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. The House held the line on the expansion issue against extremely strong headwinds from Washington and the Governor. The effort has succeeded because the Senate agreed to set aside the question of expansion so we could pass a budget on time to avoid a state government shutdown.

Separating the budget from the debate over Medicaid expansion is the right thing to do. Most Virginians understand that it was wrong to use the budget as leverage and hold the state hostage. This budget closes the $1.5 billion revenue shortfall by cutting spending .  While we used some of the state's rainy day fund, we protected over $300 million in new classroom funding for K-12 education, about $50 million in new funding for mental health reforms and investments in our state employee retirement system.

For a more detailed look at what the budget does and does not include, visit the House Appropriations Committee website.

At no point did the budget include language that would have allowed the Governor to expand Medicaid without the approval of the Medicaid Innovation and Reform Commission. However, because reports have suggested that Governor McAuliffe may still try, the General Assembly has added an additional, clarifying section that unequivocally prohibits the expansion of Medicaid without the approval of the legislature.  We return Monday night, June 23 at 5PM to take up his amendments and vetoes if any. 

I am strongly encouraging the Governor to sign the budget without re-inserting the question of Obamacare's Medicaid expansion. If he includes Medicaid expansion, the House will reject that amendment. That action will cause even further delays in adopting the state budget. It could be very damaging to Virginia if we don't enact the budget by July 1; we could lose our AAA bond rating and hurt our economy. 

Here are some of the Medicaid main points broken down: 

Medicaid is growing unsustainably. It has grown by 1600% over the last 30 years and consumes nearly 40% of all new revenue. We have to get costs under control instead of adding 400,000 new Virginians to the Medicaid rolls.

Obamacare's Medicaid expansion will end up costing Virginia greatly, especially if the federal government fails to keep its commitment. Virginians could be on the hook for over $1 billion in new spending that we simply can't afford.

All of our country's entitlement programs are going broke. Medicaid is meant to serve the most needy. Medicaid expansion would add able-bodied, working adults to the Medicaid rolls. We cannot afford this kind of growth in government programs when we are facing a $1.5 B shortfall.

At the end of the day, taxpayers of Virginia won the day in the fight to prevent expanding Obamacare in Virginia.

We avoided a state government shutdown unlike our dysfunctional DC counterparts, but now, it's time to move forward to create jobs and greater opportunities for the working middle class.