By Tony McVeigh
Frankfort, KY – Kentucky House Minority Leader Jeffrey Hoover says the search continues for a bipartisan compromise on balancing the state's Medicaid budget. Hoover is meeting behind the scenes with House Speaker Greg Stumbo to devise a plan they hope will be agreeable to Senate Republicans.
"The idea of what we're trying to do now is find a resolution to the issue that a majority of House Democrats and House Republicans can support," said Hoover. "And we're talking about a lot of different scenarios and a lot of different possibilities - making sure we have the correct numbers from the budget staff. We're just talking in broad terms right now."
One proposal apparently includes targeted cuts to state agencies, besides education, that could be made if Gov. Beshear's plan for balancing Medicaid doesn't work. Senate Republicans issued what they call a Roadmap to Responsible Solution that continues to call for across-the-board cuts, including cuts to education in the second year of the biennium.