27 March 2019 — 1626 mdt

MT House Republicans tortured HB-425 before executing it

It was a depraved and sadistic application of raw political power. Before voting to kill HB-425, the Democratic sponsored bill to extend expanded Medicaid, the Republicans on the MT House’s human services committee amended the bill by inserting the gratuitous work and work reporting requirements that infest HB-658, Rep. Ed Buttrey’s bill to extend expanded Medicaid in a way that will kick 50,000 members off of the program.

That wasn’t necessary. Just voting No on HB-435 was an option, and the clean way of tabling the bill. Mutilating the bill before slaying it had but one purpose: political torture. It was an act of terrorism, a brutal message that Republicans never will agree to the compassionate extension of expanded Medicaid. They hate the idea of We the People solutions to healthcare.

Montana’s Democrats can repair the damage that HB-658 will do only if they win working majorities in both houses of the legislature, and elect a Democrat as governor. Bipartisanship is not an option.