Ala. Senate Democrats Blocked On Medicaid Effort

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Credit AP Photo/Dave Martin

Senate Minority Leader Vivian Davis Figures has offered a resolution urging Governor Bentley to reconsider his decision not to expand Medicaid.

Democrats in the Alabama Senate are having trouble pressing their top issue.

Senate Minority Leader Vivian Davis Figures of Mobile offered a resolution Thursday urging the Republican governor to reconsider his decision not to expand Medicaid. The Senate's Republican leader, President Pro Tem Del Marsh, cut off debate on the resolution by getting it sent to the Senate Rules Committee.

Figures says expanding Medicaid under the federal Affordable Care Act is the top priority for the Senate Democratic Caucus because it would add 300,000 Alabamians to the Medicaid rolls and create jobs. She says the caucus won't give up on its efforts to get Gov. Robert Bentley to reconsider.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.