A slate of high-profile bills coming down the pike this session are getting a tough reception as Republican lawmakers in the GOP-controlled 2015 Montana Legislature aren’t backing down from the promises they campaigned on.
That much was evident during the recent clash over Medicaid, and will continue as Republicans use stacked committees to deal blows that could effectively kill Democrat-backed bills – including some of Gov. Steve Bullock’s top priorities, like Medicaid expansion, federal funding for preschools, the Flathead tribal water compact, and campaign finance reform.
The fate of major issues like Medicaid remains squarely in the hands of Republicans who vehemently oppose expanding “Obamacare” and are waging battle against Bullock’s plan, House Bill 249. And while Democrats are fuming at the embattled bill’s lack of traction, GOP lawmakers say they’re merely following through on the pledges they made to constituents, and they shouldn’t be reprimanded for it.
“Is this a Democracy or is this a Republic? Do you govern like you campaign? Because I do. And I campaigned on the fact that Obamacare was wrong for the country and Montana. And I won overwhelmingly,” said Rep. Art Wittich, R-Bozeman, speaking recently on the House floor and responding to criticism from Democrats.
Wittich chairs the House Human Services Committee charged with considering any Medicaid expansion bill, and his comments came after the committee on March 6 voted to attach a no-pass recommendation to Bullock’s Medicaid Plan, effectively killing the plan despite hearing hours of testimony from some 250 supporters and just a dozen opponents.
Democrats accused the GOP of violating House rules by prohibiting the caucus from debating or amending the plan, accusing Republicans of hypocrisy by denying health care coverage to 70,000 Montanans while accepting it on taxpayers’ backs. Bullock’s Medicaid plan would have Montana join 28 other states that have accepted hundreds of millions of federal dollars to expand Medicaid.
Rep. Ellie Hill, D-Missoula, who also sits on the House committee, chastened legislators who voted along Republican party lines to deny those Montanans health care – taxpayers she says support the very health care the lawmakers rely on during the session.
“They are pouring your coffee, they are shoveling your parking lots, they are working your ranches, and they are paying for your health care right now. Their tax dollars,” Hill said. “And you work 90 days every other year. They are paying your health care right now and you deny them that.”
But Republicans are unlikely to be cowed by such rebukes, particularly since in the House they hold a 59-person majority while also controlling the committee in charge of any Medicaid bill, giving them the authority to place any bill on life support and require approval by a super-majority of 60 House members to resuscitate it.
The House rules dictate that the 60-vote super-majority is needed to take any bill stalled in committee and get it on the House floor, where majority rules.
House minority leader Chuck Hunter, D-Helena, said the tactic violates House Rules by preventing committee members from debating proposed amendments to the bill.
“This is a clear abuse of power by a committee chairman. We knew this abuse of power was going to be directed at preventing Medicaid, and that you were going to use any means, fair or unfair, of preventing us from debating this on the House floor,” Hunter said. “We renew our objection to the adverse committee report on House Bill 249 on constitutional grounds.”
Wittich said no rules were broken, and a majority of the House hasn’t said otherwise.
“I have been working and wracking my brain for two years to come up with an innovative solution to our health care system, something where it’s not all or nothing, it’s an incremental step of improvement,” Wittich said March 9. “We have 41 days left. That’s plenty of time. The bill had a fair hearing and we should move on with new bills.”
Another of Bullock’s top priorities, funding for preschool education, took a blow when the House Appropriations Committee voted along party lines and refused to add the program into the main budget bill, House Bill 2.
Debate on the governor’s massive bill to fund infrastructure is also underway, with Republicans trying to split the bill into numerous, smaller bills and Bullock standing firm in his commitment to a single bill.
Bullock originally proposed a $391 million infrastructure package in House Bill 5. It called for borrowing $212 million by issuing bonds and spending the rest in cash. It would require a three-quarters majority in both chambers to pass because of coal tax bonds.
No one has disputed the need for Montana to invest heavily in infrastructure, but House Republican leaders are breaking up the bill.