As members of both chambers of the Florida Legislature struggled to cut an already lean budget Wednesday, the U.S. Senate passed a measure that extends unemployment benefits and, more important to the state government, provides extra funds to the states for Medicaid.
The measure passed the U.S. Senate 62-36. Fifty-six Democrats and 6 Republicans supported the legislation.
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson voted for the measure; Sen. George LeMieux, against it.
"I can't stand by and vote for a bill that is going to add $100 billion to this year's deficit" LeMieux said. "We should not be spending our kids' futures and bankrupting the promise of this country.
The legislation has already passed the U.S. House of Representatives and now the Senate and the House will reconcile a final bill before sending it to President Barack Obama who has already said he will sign the bill into law.
This measure extends stimulus funding of state Medicaid programs for an extra six months. The funding will terminate in June 2011 instead of the initial date of December 2010.
Estimates on the new Medicaid funds going to Florida range from $700 million to slightly over $1 billion.
The increased Medicaid funding will dramatically alter the Florida budgetary process.
Before the additional Medicaid funds factored in, Florida faced a shortfall of $3.2 billion. With the new federal funds, the deficit will be reduced by a corresponding amount.
While Gov. Charlie Crist included the federal funds in his proposed budget, the leadership of both the Senate and the House did not initially rely on this funding.
Nor is the legislative leadership counting on the Medicaid funds now.
On Wednesday, Senate President Jeff Atwater, R-North Palm Beach, released the initial draft of the Senate budget allocations. There are considerable differences between the proposed House and Senate budgets. The House measure allocates more revenue to health care, criminal justice and public education and less to higher education than the Senates proposed budget.
Even with the increased Medicaid funds, Atwater intends to stick with the numbers that he released on Wednesday.
"That the U.S. Senate is making progress to pick up more of the cost of the Medicaid mandate they've placed on us is welcomed news, he said. We will continue to monitor the federal government's actions closely, while proceeding to build committee budgets based on the allocations released this morning."
Rep. David Rivera, R-Miami, who serves as the House chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Commission, agreed with Atwater. Rivera said the House will continue to plan without relying on the Medicaid funding as the budget process continues. Rivera said that he will continue to discount the Medicaid funds unless ordered otherwise by House Speaker Larry Cretul, R-Ocala.
Ill believe (the Medicaid funding) when I see it, Rivera said.
Kevin Derby covers the Legislature and politics for Sunshine State News. He can be reached at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or at (850) 727-0859.
