Political maneuvering during the legislative session is a given. Bring together 100 members of the House of Delegates, 34 members of the Senate, mix in the often competing interests of the political parties and various constituent groups and you’re going to have posturing, artful dodging, power plays, deflections and more, all in the name of retaining or gaining power to achieve an end.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with that. Nobody has yet figured out a better way to govern. However, there are times when the play goes too far, when it exposes a little bit too much self-interest over the greater good of public policy.
That happened this week when the House of Delegates took up Governor Tomblin’s emergency supplemental spending bill.
Tomblin needed $52 million from the state’s Rainy Day Fund so our financially-strapped state could keep up with vital payments for Medicaid, welfare programs and other bills. The Senate hurried the bill through 34 to nothing, but the bill ran into trouble in the House.
House Democrats instead wanted to put the $52 million, plus an additional $6 million, into the Public Employee Insurance Agency, which faces $120 million in cuts next fiscal year. Governor Tomblin has proposed a PEIA fix, but Democrats argue that Republicans have been dragging their feet.
It was evident what was at work here. Democrats were trying to get Republicans on the record voting against PEIA. That could be an important wedge issue for Democrats in this critical election year.
The Democrats effort failed on a party line vote 63-36, and then they joined with the Republicans to do what they should have done in the first place—pass the Governor’s legislation so the bills get paid on time.
Even Governor Tomblin called out members of his own party, though in fairly muted language. “Attempting to amend a 2016 supplemental bill was not the appropriate way to attempt to fund PEIA’s need for fiscal year 2017,” said communications director Chris Stadelman. “Governor Tomblin is glad the state will be able to say current on its bills.”
Tomblin added, however, that the Legislature should get busy and act on his proposed PEIA fix that includes a tobacco tax increase. House Speaker Tim Armstead offered assurances Tuesday on Talkline that they are working on that, so the ball is in their court.
Clearly, the Democrats knew that taking money out of savings and adding it to baseline spending was a fiscally unsound idea. That money would have to be there every year, so either you drain the Rainy Day Fund in a few years or put off the problem of where to find the money to the next Legislature.
In politics, as is often the case in life, you should choose your battles wisely.