A Michigan bill to expand Medicaid under Obamacare is currently in legislative purgatory after a state senator refused to cast a vote, therefore stymying its passage.
The bill needs 20 votes out of the 38-member Senate to pass. It received 19 yay votes and 18 nay votes in a floor vote Tuesday afternoon, but Republican Sen. Patrick Colbeck, who is vehemently opposed to expansion, refused to cast a vote on the bill. If he had cast a nay vote, leaving a 19-19 tie, then Republican Lt. Gov. Brian Calley could have cast a tiebreaking vote to pass the bill, as Calley has pledged to do.
But because Colbeck didn’t vote, the bill failed when it didn’t reach the 20-vote threshold. The Senate then immediately voted 21-17 to reconsider the vote and went into recess so the party caucuses could meet.
Colbeck called the bill “morally reprehensible” during a five-minute speech on the Senate floor prior to the vote.
The bill passed the House earlier this year, and Gov. Rick Snyder has promised to sign it if passed. The expansion would extend health coverage to 400,000 low-income Michiganders.
