Medicaid Agreement Reached
File Photo
Around 11 p.m. last night, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, announced from the House floor that the special budget committee has reached an agreement with Gov. Haley Barbour on the final sticking point holding up passage of the 2010 Mississippi state budget: Medicaid.
“We will be ready to go on it in the morning,” McCoy told NEMS 360. He added that Barbour would include the issue in the agenda for the legislative special session that began last Sunday.
Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant announced the news to the Senate this morning.
“The clerk of the House tells me that they are prepared to take that (Medicaid) bill up as soon as the call is issued by the Governor on Medicaid,” Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant told senators shortly after 9 a.m. “We anticipate that happening today, this morning.”
“There is a tentative agreement between all parties regarding the Medicaid deal,” the Lieutenant Governor said.
Both the House and Senate convened briefly this morning before recessing subject to call.
In a flurry of activity yesterday, legislators passed separate appropriations bills for most state agencies, working around disagreements on an overall budget. Lawmakers passed a bill funding K-12 education that included supplemental pay for National Board-certified teachers, a line item that had been cut from some previous budget proposals, and a 25-cents-per-pack tax increase on cigarettes from small manufacturers.
© Jackson Free Press, Inc.
