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In the weekly Virginia Republican address, Del. Jimmie Massie, R-Henrico, urges Gov. Terry McAuliffe to separate health care expansion from discussion of the state’s budget.

An impasse has held up the state’s two-year spending plan, which makes it harder for counties and cities to develop their own budgets. McAuliffe is bringing legislators back for a special session that starts March 24.

“Several weeks ago, when Governor McAuliffe and the Senate Democrats decided to take the budget hostage for immediate Medicaid expansion and to leave town, instead of continuing to work on the budget as requested by House Republicans, the governor said something very telling,” Massie says. “He said it would be a good idea for the House of Delegates to go home and hear our constituents’ positions with respect to Medicaid expansion.

“Well, we’ve done just that. And what we’re hearing is overwhelming. Virginians want the Senate and the governor to come back to Richmond and do their jobs — they want their legislators to free the budget hostage and pass a clean budget without Obamacare Medicaid expansion.”