Where the Legislature went wrong
Gridlock and ‘frayed nerves’ taint session
TALLAHASSEE — It wasn’t supposed to end like this.
With the House and Senate led by Republicans, a budding partnership was expected to bring tax cuts, increased spending on education and renewed focus on water resources.
Instead, the legislative session ended with the budget at a standstill, many of the local projects either dead or in peril, and Senate President Andy Gardiner and House Speaker Steve Crisafulli accusing each other of underhanded tactics.
The gridlock is a function of the high stakes at play — billions of dollars in taxpayer funds, access to health insurance for 800,000 to 1 million Floridians and potential deep cuts to health care providers. But it’s also a symptom of the stark philosophical differences
between the more conservative House and more moderate Senate, despite overwhelming Republican control in both chambers.
“This is change that affects Florida forever,” said Crisafulli, R-Merritt Island, in talking to reporters last month about Medicaid expansion, the crux of the fight. “If you go into a federal program like that, you will soon find out what it means to be married to Washington.”
Then the political clash devolved even more.
“I think what you have is you have philosophical differences, you have personal ambitions and personal animosities, and what everybody knows is going to be a contentious election year next year,” said Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political science professor. “And it’s led to a lot of frayed nerves.”
The battle reached its peak when the House adjourned Tuesday, three days before the scheduled end of session, drawing a fierce response from Gardiner, R-Orlando, who called it an unconstitutional move and asked House members to return. Crisafulli refused and accused Gardiner of blindsiding him with a push to expand Medicaid.
“I understand that you are angry that the House concluded our business. You know that the things that have been said about our work together are untrue. I know you know that in your heart,” Crisafulli said in response to Gardiner’s call for the House to return.
A majority of Florida Supreme Court justices agreed it was unconstitutional, but by the time they ruled Friday, the last day of session, there was no reason to order lawmakers to return.
Crisafulli said Gardiner didn’t mention Medicaid expansion to him when they developed their “joint work plan” before the session. Gardiner says he did talk about the need to address a different Medicaid program, the Low Income Pool, which is set to expire June 30.
Gardiner chided the House for not debating the issue and said the Senate is the only chamber to put forward a solution to the health-care access and hospital funding crisis.
“I don’t have to get the permission from anybody to bring forward an issue that we feel very strongly about,” Gardiner said.
The $2.2 billion program, which pays hospitals for emergency care for the poor and uninsured, uses $1.3 billion in federal funds. Federal officials have said they don’t want to pay Florida with LIP funds for patients who could be covered less expensively through Medicaid expansion, a key component of Obamacare.
Gardiner, an Orlando Health executive, seeing that Washington said last year it wouldn’t extend LIP without significant changes, began to push for a Medicaid expansion plan at the beginning of session to make up for the lost funds for hospitals, some of which say they will have to cut back services or even shut down if LIP expires.
House leaders, however, have staunchly opposed expansion of what they claim is a flawed program. Relying on $50 billion in federal funds that would come with Medicaid expansion, even with the work, co-pay and premium payment requirements in the Senate plan, is a nonstarter for them.
When Gardiner built both Medicaid and an alternative LIP plan into the Senate budget and the House left both out, the session was set for a headon collision.
Crisafulli’s main priority of overhauling the state’s water policy sat, stuck in the Senate. Gardiner’s top priority of expanding learning accounts and higher education opportunities for disabled students was held up in the House.
For House Democratic Leader Mark Pafford of West Palm Beach, the seminal moment was a fervent floor speech by House budget chief Richard Corcoran, R-Land O’Lakes. He blasted “Gucci loafer”-wearing lobbyists pushing for Medicaid expansion and asked colleagues to “go to war” with him.
“I think that was the day that things really began to unravel,” Pafford said.
But for Gardiner and the Senate, if Medicaid isn’t expanded this year, it likely won’t be expanded any time soon in Florida. Corcoran is next in line to become House speaker in 2017 and has said he will never accept it. Next year is an election year, and no one will want to risk a bare-knuckled political fight over expansion again.
There’s also the issue of the subsidies of health plans on federal exchanges potentially expiring this summer. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide a case that could take away subsidies from the 1.6 million Floridians on a federal exchange, meaning they would lose coverage if Florida doesn’t set up its own exchange, as the Senate plan does.
“I think about whether this is the right moment in history,” said Senate budget chief Tom Lee, R-Brandon. “All of these policy decisions are being filtered through the prism of that.”
Gardiner has proposed a special session starting June 1 to resolve the differences. In the first signal the fractured Legislature could be healing, Crisafulli called Gardiner’s proposal “progress.”
But there’s still no formal agreement on when, much less how, the Republican chambers will begin to forge a compromise.