BOISE (Feb. 19, 2025) — Idaho’s Democratic Caucus issued the following statement after House Bill 138 passed on the House floor on a 38-32 vote. It now moves to the Senate. H93 passed on the Senate floor 20-15 and now moves to Governor Brad Little’s desk.
“Today marks a new low for Idaho’s GOP supermajority. Two of the most dangerous and damaging bills of the past decade were passed by Idaho’s Republican legislators in the House and Senate. H138 would effectively repeal Medicaid Expansion, and H93 would create a voucher program to subsidize private and religious school tuition for wealthy families.
“Every Democrat voted no on H138 because we recall the dark days before Idahoans voted overwhelmingly to establish Medicaid Expansion in 2018. If the GOP has its way, we’ll soon return to tens of thousands of working families being one accident away from medical bankruptcy, rural hospitals shuttering, and too many Idahoans routinely dying of preventable deaths because they could not afford basic care.
“Almost simultaneously, across the rotunda, Republican senators passed H93 on a 20-15 vote. This is a voucher bill without any meaningful sideboards that will siphon badly needed funds away from our public schools and instead subsidize wealthy families’ private and religious school tuition. It will bust Idaho’s future state budget, just like similar bills have in other states.”