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Michigan Legislature Adjourns without Voting on Medicaid Expansion

An uncharacteristically angry Gov. Rick Snyder, who cut his trip to Israel short to lobby lawmakers on the Medicaid expansion -- which he supports, demanded an up-or-down vote.

The Republican-dominated Michigan Senate adjourned Thursday without voting to provide medical insurance to hundreds of thousands of low-income adults under the federal health care law, prompting an uncharacteristically angry Gov. Rick Snyder to demand an up-or-down vote.

“Take a vote, not a vacation,” the Republican governor said during a late afternoon Capitol news conference in which he implored every state resident to ask GOP senators to vote on Medicaid expansion soon. “Isn’t that what we deserve to move forward?”

Snyder cut his trade trip to Israel short to be back in Lansing on Thursday and lobby the Senate for hours. The chamber adjourned, however, and does not plan to return for two months — a serious blow that likely means 320,000 adults will not be added to Medicaid in 2014.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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