The lone Democratic senator who joined Republicans in voting for a Virginia budget says the move was made in error, according to The Associated Press.
Virginia's Republican-controlled legislature passed a two-year budget late on Thursday that shot down the Democratic governor's proposal to expand Medicaid and closed a $1.55 billion revenue shortfall, according to the AP.
State Senator Lynwood Lewis voted Thursday to approve a budget aimed at ensuring Governor Terry McAuliffe cannot expand Medicaid without legislative approval. Lewis was the only Democrat to join 20 Republicans on the vote, the AP reported.
The Virginia General Assembly's online vote tracker shows that Lewis indicated after the vote that he meant instead to vote against the budget. Lewis aide Charles Stanton confirmed Friday that Lewis intended to vote no, according to the AP.
Lewis's office did not immediately respond to questions about how the mistaken vote occurred.
Republicans still would have had enough votes to pass the budget without Lewis, the AP reported. They have a 20-19 advantage after another Democratic senator unexpectedly resigned Monday.
Expanding Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, to about 400,000 Virginians under the federal Affordable Care Act had been Governor Terry McAuliffe's chief legislative priority, according to the AP. McAuliffe has not said whether he will approve the lawmakers' spending plan.
"When this budget reaches my desk I will evaluate it carefully and take the actions that I deem necessary," McAuliffe said in a statement on Friday, the AP reported. "But this fight is far from over."
The Affordable Care Act, launched in October and also known as Obamacare, is designed to extend health coverage to uninsured Americans through subsidized private health insurance and by expanding Medicaid coverage, according to the AP. Medicaid is run by states but overseen by the federal government.
