A top adviser to President Donald Trump said over the weekend that the White House’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act will include a drastic change to how the federal government funds Medicaid, but Gov. Charlie Baker said Monday he’s optimistic that concerns like his will be heard by Congressional leaders.
Trump counselor Kellyanne Conway said during an interview with NBC that Trump’s plan will propose giving states fixed amounts of money, or block grants, to manage Medicaid programs for low-income residents. The block grant system would replace the current federal matching funds that flow to states based on Medicaid enrollment. Baker, who was in Washington, D.C., last week to attend Trump’s inauguration, said he spoke with other governors “at some length” about the federal debate over the ACA and Medicaid financing, and was reassured that the states would be allowed to provide input.
Attorney General Maura Healey joined 16 of her counterparts Monday in filing a motion to intervene in a federal case to try to defend the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau from being dismantled.
Spearheaded by Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen, the motion seeks to have the attorneys general become defendants in PHH Corporation et al vs. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.
In an October 2016 ruling, the court found unconstitutional the structure of the bureau that enforces federal consumer financial protection laws. If permitted to stand, that ruling “will undermine the power of the State Attorneys General to effectively protect consumers against abuse in the consumer finance industry,” the attorneys general argued in their motion. The fate of the bureau, championed by U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and created as part of the 2011 Dodd-Frank banking reforms, is uncertain given President Donald Trump’s dim view of Dodd-Frank.
Sen. Jason Lewis’ Twitter notifications went to pot Monday. Angered by his filing of bills to tighten the restrictions on legal marijuana, specifically a bill that would reduce by half the amount of cannabis an adult can grow in their own home, the Massachusetts Grower Advocacy Council on Monday bombarded Lewis with photos of home grows and details on how much of the substance each plant yielded.
“These look big but only produced 3.5 ozs each. 5.5 mos grow time,” the group tweeted at Lewis’ @SenJasonLewis account Monday morning along with a picture of five marijuana plants. “Where’s the criminal empire?” By 2:30 p.m., the @MassGrowers account had directed nearly 30 similar tweets at Lewis.
Lewis on Friday filed a bill that would limit cultivation to six plants per residence. The ballot question approved in November currently allows for six plants per adult, or a maximum of 12 per household.
From State House News Service