As Tennessee Democrats fight to revive Gov. Bill Haslam’s twice-killed Insure Tennessee proposal, the bill’s Republican House sponsor says he doubts the bill will resurface for a vote anytime soon.
“I think if [Haslam] thought he could win, he would try to do it again. And right now I don’t think he could win,” said Rep. Gerald McCormick, R-Chattanooga, referring to the proposal that aims to expand TennCare to 280,000 low-income people without impacting the state’s budget.
Republicans in Senate committees shot down the proposal two times this legislative session.
The session ended last month, but Tennessee Democrats say they will keep the issue alive into the summer. On Wednesday, they held a news conference at Legislative Plaza in Nashville to try to pressure majority Republicans to hold another special session for Insure Tennessee.
“We in our caucus, the fighting 26, want to keep pressing on this issue,” House Minority Leader Craig Fitzhugh, D-Ripley, told reporters. “We want to keep it on the front burner.”