For years, Wisconsin’s powerful House speaker has refused to vote on a bipartisan bill that would expand postpartum Medicaid coverage for new mothers. Finally this week, he relented.
“Let’s go out and take a victory lap,” Republican Robin Vos told caucus members late Wednesday, one lawmaker said.
“You won,” Voss added.
Congress voted 95-1 Thursday to extend from 60 days a federal program that provides low-income mothers with free health insurance for a year after giving birth. Voss was among those who voted in favor.
The bill has already been passed by the Senate and now goes to Democratic Gov. Tony Evers. He has publicly supported such legislation for years and is expected to sign it.
Other states across the country, except for Arkansas, have already taken that step.
The vote marked a rare capitulation for Wisconsin’s longest-serving speaker. He is a man who controls the agenda of Congress, provides campaign contributions to those who favor him, and punishes those who oppose him. ProPublica wrote about Vos’ opposition to the bill last fall.
The turning point came on a surprising day involving Voss. Earlier, at the start of the session, he announced that he would retire at the end of the year, and revealed that he had suffered a mild heart attack in the autumn and needed to reduce stress. “To my leadership team and caucus colleagues, I thank you for your trust, and thank you for your candor and willingness to take on this heavy responsibility,” he said.
Rep. Patrick Snyder, the Republican lead sponsor of the postpartum bill, threatened not to run for re-election unless he succeeded in passing the bill, a legislative goal he promised voters he would achieve. That would have left open Republican seats in battleground districts. Incumbents usually have an advantage in elections.
“I thought if we couldn’t pass this thing, we couldn’t go back,” Snyder told speakers. “It was such an important bill.”
Vos has long opposed expanding Medicaid coverage for new moms, explaining that she opposes spending more money on welfare in Wisconsin. The state Legislative Fiscal Office estimated that the 12-month policy, if fully phased in, would cost the state about $9.4 million, with the federal government paying an additional $14.1 million.
The Republican-controlled Congress is about to end its session, and all sides are feeling a sense of urgency as they intend to begin full-scale campaigning by the end of the year.
Democrats moved aggressively on the postpartum extension issue Wednesday, proposing one amendment after another to attach Medicaid changes to the bill, causing some confusion in the legislation as Republicans repeatedly ruled the issue was unrelated to the bill under consideration. (Democrats took a similar step in another stalled bipartisan bill on insurance coverage for breast cancer screenings, which also passed Thursday.)
Snyder said Democratic tactics nearly derailed Republican efforts to convince Voss to pass both bills. In a press conference, a disappointed Snyder said he felt like someone tripped him as he sprinted toward the goal line.
“They probably didn’t think I could pull it off,” he later told ProPublica. “And now we did.”
In recent weeks, seven other Republicans have joined Snyder in urging Vos to reconsider his position. In a Feb. 3 letter to Vos, the group said the bill is consistent with core Republican priorities, including protecting infants by ensuring healthy mothers.
All eight members belong to battleground districts. Despite their conflicts with Vos this week, they were still careful to pay him any respect, with one calling the speaker a “tough negotiator” and another thanking Vos in public for “his understanding.”
The bill was supported by hospitals and medical groups as well as abortion opponents who advocate strong support for pregnant women and new mothers. Research shows that the first year after giving birth is a dangerous time for women, who can face postpartum depression, blood clots, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, and other long-term health problems.
Kate Duffy, a Wisconsin mother who amplifies political issues on social media under the nickname “Motherhood for Good,” has been fighting for more postpartum coverage and challenging Vos on the subject for about a year. She had a sizable audience, especially among women in Wisconsin, many of whom responded to her call to action for lawmakers.
She credited the bill’s passage to “good old-fashioned organizing and relentless persistence.”
“We can’t stay quiet about this,” Duffy said.
