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Tag: federal aid

Budget crisis update: Senate greenlights aid

Budget crisis update: Senate greenlights aid

Just as Washington was girding for a nasty special legislative session or across-the-board spending cuts by Governor Gregoire, Congress may at long last be riding to the rescue.  The U.S. Senate voted 61-38 in a key test vote Wednesday to jump-start a $26 billion aid package for the financially-strapped states. That  would translate into over a half-billion for Washington state. This would include $320 million in Medicaid matching funds that the Legislature had booked when it wrote the budget last…

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Session’s a wrap: Now the people speak

Session’s a wrap: Now the people speak

Washington’s election-year, deficit-plagued legislative session is now history.  After 90 days of debate and wrangling, the Democratic-controlled Legislature closed a $2.8 billion budget gap with a pastiche of taxes, spending cuts, federal aid and other stopgap measures.  The session was gaveled to a close early Tuesday. The voters get the final say: All of the 98 House seats will be on the ballot this fall, as will half of the 49-member Senate.  Republicans believe Democrats will pay a big price…

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Gregoire: More money coming from Uncle Sam

Gregoire: More money coming from Uncle Sam

Governor Gregoire says a $435 million windfall from the feds — in the form of more money for Medicaid — will help reduce the size of a proposed revenue package. Gregoire, in a news conference called to report on the billions the state has received in federal recovery money, said she is confident that Congress will approve a healthy chunk of money requested by the White House to bail out the states’ medical assistance program. President Obama has asked for…

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