PHOENIX — Ending a six-month legislative session, Arizona lawmakers endorsed a key element of President Barack Obama's health care law in a huge political victory for Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, after a lengthy fight over Medicaid expansion that divided the state's Republican leadership.
The expansion that will extend health care to 300,000 more low-income Arizonans came after months of stalled negotiations, tense debates and political maneuvering as Brewer pushed the Medicaid proposal through a hostile Legislature.
She secured her victory Thursday after lawmakers passed Brewer's $8.8 billion state budget that included the Medicaid expansion provided under a key provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The Legislature's Republican leadership called it "Chicago politics" and labeled Brewer a puppet master, but Brewer remained undeterred as she prepared to sign the measures into state law.
"The day has been a red-letter day for the people of Arizona," Brewer told reporters after the budget votes Thursday. "It was a win, win, win all the way around."
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