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…