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Posts tagged
'Bruce Westerman'

A solution in search of a problem

So much easier it is to legislate based upon myth and agreeable fancy than upon hard reality. Simple, half-baked remedies serve the former well, but they wreak havoc when they are introduced into the real world.
IT Arkansas job board

Arkansas legislative watch

We're nearing the deadline for filing employment related bills. Here's a bill by Rep. Allen Kerr related to deferred retirement option programs that have been popular throughout state government.
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Taking the temperature of the Medicaid expansion debate

Will the legislature approve Medicaid expansion? Introducing the Expand-o-meter, our guesstimate of the state of the debate, which we’ll update frequently as new developments come along. Today’s chances of passing expansion: 51%

Republicans move to strangle government

You know about the frog in the pot of slowly heating water? I'm reminded of the metaphor by House Republican Leader Bruce Westerman's bill, filed yesterday and with a herd of Republican co-sponsors, to arbitrarily cap state spending increases by 3 percent a year, or, if the three-year average has been less than 3 percent, that lower figure.
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Republicans react to Medicaid 'circuit breaker'

I mentioned earlier that even Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer had decided the economic argument in favor of accepting Medicaid expansion was too powerful to ignore.

Arkansas's share of Medicaid expansion and the national debt

Imagine standing a baby carrot up next to the 25-story Stephens building. That gives you a picture of the impact on the national debt that federal spending in Arkansas on Medicaid expansion would have.
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Republican lawmakers doubt DHS projections, still don’t have specific suggestions for cuts

Republican lawmakers still don't believe that harsh cuts to Level 3 nursing care are necessary and they're still resistant to expanding Medicaid, which projects to ease the fiscal crunch enough to save the nursing care.

Majority Leader not swayed by new DHS projection on Medicaid expansion

As I reported this week, the Department of Human Services updated their study on savings to the state’s bottom line if Medicaid expansion is approved, and the numbers look even better for Arkansas than previously thought.
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Make Medicaid more efficient? It's already in the budget

The cuts recommended by the Department of Human Services to plug the state Medicaid program’s budget shortfall in 2014 and 2015 have caused a stir because they include cuts to Level 3 nursing-facility care, as we noted in this week’s Reporter.

Tonight's the night

The line is open. I'm sure Jay Barth will be along before long with some words from the Democratic National Convention and President Obama's big speech.
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Clinton's knockout speech at Democratic National Convention

Bill Clinton just about broke Twitter last night with an unending stream of superlatives for his Democratic National Convention nominating speech.

Republicans plan end-run on charter school evaluation

Steve Brawner at Talk Business writes today about one of many movements afoot to make it easier to open up a charter school in Arkansas.
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