BY WESLEY P. HESTER

A lively debate unfolded on the House floor Tuesday on the issue of proposed health care safety net cuts in Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposed biennial budget.

Del. Robert H. Brink, D-Arlington, noted that the budget suggests a $5.4 million cut to safety net programs like free clinics and would slash funding by 50 percent in the budget’s second year.

“It would literally rip the safety net in half,” Brink said.

McDonnell has proposed the reductions because the federal health care reform legislation would add about 425,000 Virginians currently using those services to Medicaid rolls in 2014.

The U.S. Supreme Court later this year will decide on the constitutionality of the health care reform law after dozens of states, including Virginia, filed suit.

“Given all the uncertainty out there about what the Supreme Court will do to health care reform and when they’ll do it, not to mention where the economy is going,  this proposal to slash Virginia’s health care safety net is nothing short of reckless,” Brink said.

Del. C. Todd Gilbert, R-Shenandoah, took exception to the use of the word, suggesting that the governor was “trying to be responsible” in planning for the future.

“Governor McDonnell did not invite Obamacare to be visited upon the people of Virginia or these United States,” commenting that it was the Obama administration, not the governor, who was being reckless.

“We are hopeful that those individuals do not have to be added to our Medicaid obligations, but nonetheless we are planning, and the governor is planning, for that eventuality,” he said.  

Del. Patrick A. Hope, D-Arlington, said he found it ironic that the governor “balances the budget” on the Affordable Care Act, but opposes the establishment of a state-run health care exchange as called for in the bill.