The Senate is debating the budget and has been going strong for 3 hours and expected to continue. So far 12 amendments have been proposed with the majority of amendments being defeated along party lines.
Democrats are taking a united attempt to change the budget using the funds outlined as potential revenue cuts from the tax plan. Within the budget, the state’s tax revenue is decreased by approximately $770 million which is understood to be the result of the yet to be seen tax reform package.
Democrats submitted multiple amendments that take those funds and inject them into the budget across multiple agencies. Their argument is that the tax plan only helps the rich, and funds should not be cut from government programs to aid the tax package. Obviously the Republicans opposed those amendments and the discussion led to some colorful debate that required the Lt. Governor to interject and calm some of them down and redirect attention to the amendment in discussion.
The other amendment that has received some heated debate was Senator Nesbitt’s idea to expand Medicaid with federal funding under Obamacare. Senator Hise gave a very informed and strong argument why that is a bad idea for North Carolina. He explained why the money received from the federal exchange would only postpone the problem and eventually cripple North Carolina’s Medicaid program. The amendment was defeated.
The debate at the present time is on Senator Hise’s amendment regarding hospital base rates.
