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Virginia Special Session to Settle Budget and Medicaid Expansion

Virginia Capitol

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Virginia lawmakers are coming back to the Capitol to try and pass a budget after failing to do so earlier this year.

Lawmakers are set to return Wednesday to open up a special session on the budget, but they aren't expected to do anything beyond procedural moves. Passage of a state spending plan is expected to take weeks or longer.

An intraparty feud between Republicans in the GOP-led General Assembly over whether to expand Medicaid has caused the budget stalemate.

Pro-expansion legislators appear to have the momentum after a key Republican senator announced he was switching positions last week, a move that gives lawmakers who favor Medicaid expansion a majority in both chambers of the GOP-led General Assembly.

But sticking points remain, and the passage of Medicaid expansion isn't guaranteed.

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Don Rush is the News Director and Senior Producer of News and Public Affairs at Delmarva Public Media. An award-winning journalist, Don reports major local issues of the day, from sea level rise, to urban development, to the changing demographics of Delmarva.