McAuliffe: Va. GOP Won’t Expan Medicare as They’re ‘Scared to Death’ of Tea Party

RUSH EXCERPT:

McAULIFFE: "Listen, I also serve as the chairman of the national governors association. Give us more flexibility. Sell the rules and regulations. We could bring cost INGs and provide more care with — all agreement on that. The problem is when they talk about per cap or block grant, let us be clear. That means the federal government is trying to shift costs from them to us. What they’re going to do is give us a per cap number. In Virginia, you know, listen, we have a very cheap Medicaid program. If you are a single woman with two children, you have to make less than $6,700 a year. What am I poelk going to do? Cut that down to $5,000? We’re, unfortunately, a non-expansion state. We have left $$10.4 billion on the table because my Republican legislature, in fairness, is scared to death of the tea party, and they don’t want to vote for this because they think they’ll lose in a primary instead of coming together. I can do this with no obligations to the state of Virginia. I could bring 6.6 million back a day. Opiate crisis. Mental health. People have had it with politicians who don’t understand what’s going on in everybody’s daily lives. We should be here to help people. Republicans are doing things that are hurting the citizens, not helping them."