Affordable Care Act Archives

Medicaid expansion not included in final Missouri House budget; heated floor debate involves scripture

April 1, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

After a heated floor debate that included numerous biblical references, the Missouri House voted Thursday afternoon to give final approval to a $34.1 billion state operating budget. The House budget does not contain funding for Medicaid expansion.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) and State Rep. Brad Hudson (R-Cape Fair) have a discussion on the Missouri House floor on April 1, 2021 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The operating budget now heads to the Missouri Senate, and Medicaid expansion supporters hope senators will include the funding. The state Constitution requires Missouri lawmakers to approve a balanced budget, by early May.

Medicaid is formally known as MO HealthNet, and it’s a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes. In August, 53 percent of Missouri voters approved Medicaid expansion, although it failed in 105 of the state’s 114 counties. Rural House members from those districts led the opposition to Medicaid expansion this week.

Amendment Two supporters say the measure expands Medicaid for residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with an income level at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level.

House Republicans, led by House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) say Medicaid expansion would help able bodied adults, many who choose not to work. Smith has filed a bill to use the $1.9 billion to instead support seniors in nursing homes, to provide care for the developmentally disabled and to expand mental health programs.

State Rep. Doug Richey (R-Excelsior Springs), who serves on the House Budget Committee, supports Chairman Smith’s position. Richey says it’s important for state government to prioritize.

“What we are doing in this is we are prioritizing the most vulnerable among us,” Richey tells House colleagues.

State Rep. Michael Burton (D-Lakeshire) speaks about Medicaid expansion on the Missouri House floor on April 1, 2021 (photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Missouri House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee’s top Democrat is criticizing House Republicans for approving a budget that doesn’t include Medicaid expansion. She voted against the budget bill.

“In 2010 I became an activist and supported President (Barack) Obama’s Affordable Care Act, because it was the right thing to do and thank God that I did. Because it saved my life,” State Rep. LaDonna Appelbaum (D-St. Louis County) tells colleagues.

Appelbaum also talked about her experience with chemotherapy.

Thursday’s debate included numerous references to the Bible, with lawmakers in both parties invoking Jesus’ name and quoting scripture. State Rep. Michael Burton (D-Lakeshire) asked Republicans what Jesus would do about people in need without health care, and State Rep. Trish Gunby (D-Manchester) notes her United Methodist Church believes health care is a right.

But State Rep. Ben Baker (R-Neosho), a minister and former dean of students at Neosho’s Ozark Bible Institute, quoted the Apostle Paul to the Thessalonians on the floor.

“If you don’t work, you don’t eat,” Baker tells the House. He accuses House Democrats of hypocrisy, and State Rep. Nick Schroer (R-O’Fallon) agreed. Schroer says Democrats quote the Roman Catholic Church and other religions, when it’s something they agree with.

State Rep. Keri Ingle (D-Lee’s Summit), quoted Matthew Chapter 25 in a Thursday tweet.

“Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.”

Governor Parson was asked about the House’s effort on Wednesday, during a live interview on Missourinet Sedalia affiliate KDRO (AM 1490).

“We’ll have to see how that goes in the Senate there. We did put the money in the budget for that,” Parson tells KDRO. “People did vote for it. Although I didn’t support it (Medicaid expansion) at the time but the reality of it is, the people of the state voted for it. I thought it was my obligation as governor to make sure we try to get it implemented. We’ll see though. The House voted against that … a little different maneuver I want to say, I guess. We’ll see what the Senate does and we’ll see how it comes out at the end of the day.”

Missouri lawmakers have left Jefferson City for their Easter break. They’ll return to the Capitol on Tuesday.

What we’re watching this week in the Missouri Legislature: budget and preexisting condition legislation (AUDIO)

March 22, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

The state operating budget, a proposed supplemental budget and health-related bills will dominate attention in the second half of Missouri’s legislative session, including this week when lawmakers return to Jefferson City from spring break.

Missouri House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) testifies before a House committee in Jefferson City on February 24, 2021 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

The Missouri House Budget Committee has scheduled Monday and Tuesday hearings at the Statehouse. Governor Mike Parson (R) is recommending a proposed $34.1 billion state operating budget. House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith (R-Carthage) says the plan is for the House to give final approval to that budget, next week.

“If things go according to plan, the second week after we’re back (the week of March 29), we could be looking at perfecting and third-reading the budget and sending it over to the Senate. So, that’s our schedule and we’re on schedule so far and our intention is to try to get it done in time enough to send to the Senate and give them adequate time for their consideration,” Smith told Capitol reporters on March 11, as lawmakers were leaving for spring break.

The state Constitution requires Missouri lawmakers to approve a balanced budget, by early May. House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher (R-Des Peres) tells Missourinet that it’s important to give the Budget Committee enough time to do their job, so that is a priority.

The Parson administration is also proposing a $1.67 billion supplemental budget. Much of that involves federal dollars.

Speaking of Leader Plocher, his proposed constitutional amendment involving preexisting conditions will go before a House committee in Jefferson City on Monday afternoon.

The Missouri House Health and Mental Health Policy Committee will hold a public hearing at noon Monday. If lawmakers approve his House Joint Resolution 50, you’ll be voting in 2022 on Plocher’s proposed constitutional amendment requiring health insurers to cover preexisting conditions. Plocher believes the U-S Supreme Court could overturn the Affordable Care Act.

He describes his proposal as principled and bipartisan. Plocher also notes that many Missourians have preexisting conditions.

“I think Missouri’s economy, Missouri’s families and the quality of life is better when we have affordable health insurance,” Plocher told Missourinet in February.

Agriculture is another issue that will get attention this week in the Missouri House. The Missouri House Agriculture Policy Committee will hold a Tuesday morning hearing on legislation from State Rep. Allen Andrews (R-Grant City), involving foreign ownership of farmland.

House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher (R-Des Peres) speaks on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 13, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Representative Andrews is the House Majority Whip. His House Bill 1296 would prohibit citizens of a nation in which an American citizen cannot own real property from buying agricultural real property in Missouri.

Across the Rotunda in the Missouri Senate, President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan) is praising his Senate colleagues for approving Wayfair legislation and his proposed 12 cent-a-gallon gasoline tax increase bills, before the spring break.

Schatz expects some education reform bills to be debated this week on the Senate floor, and is looking forward to a debate soon on prescription drug monitoring program (PDMP) legislation.

Senate Majority Floor Leader Caleb Rowden (R-Columbia) tells Missourinet that he expects PDMP to hit the Senate floor in the first couple of weeks, after lawmakers return from spring break. Schatz notes that he’s personally carried the PDMP bill several times.

“I look forward to having that (Senate floor debate) conversation, obviously this is something that (State) Senator Rehder is very passionate about. When she was in the House, I carried that legislation myself (and) tried to find a resolution for that,” Schatz says.

He’s working with State Sen. Holly Rehder (R-Scott City), who’s filed the PDMP bill for the ninth straight year. A PDMP is an electronic database that collects data on controlled substance prescriptions within a state.

Rehder and other supporters say Missouri’s medical professionals must have knowledge of what their patients are on, prior to prescribing more medication. Bill opponents, including State Sen. Mike Moon (R-Ash Grove) worry about potential data breaches involving your prescription information.

While both the Missouri House and Senate approved PDMP in 2020, they approved different versions of the bill. Missouri is the only state in the nation without a PDMP.

Pro Tem Schatz is vowing to pass PDMP before he leaves office at the end of 2022. He notes it’s come close several times.

“You know, we made some changes. Obviously at the time, we were not able to get it across the finish line. But I think I’m as optimistic as ever that will occur before I leave the Missouri Senate, I think we’re going to see that,” says Schatz.

Rehder has described her current bill as a compromise bill, that had the support of the majority of Senate and House members in 2020.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with Missouri Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz (R-Sullivan), which was recorded on March 19, 2021:

Proposed Missouri constitutional amendment would protect those with preexisting conditions (AUDIO)

February 11, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

You could be voting in 2022 on a proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri, requiring health insurers to cover preexisting conditions.

House Joint Resolution 50 is a two-page proposal. It’s sponsored by State Rep. Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, the powerful House Majority Floor Leader. He says the U.S. Supreme Court could overturn the Affordable Care Act this year.

State Reps. Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, (left) and Curtis Trent, R-Springfield, speak on the Missouri House floor in Jefferson City on May 13, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

“If it is (overturned), there’s one element in the Affordable Care Act that I certainly stand on and that is protecting vulnerable Missourians from facing the hardships that insurance would have if they couldn’t be covered because of their preexisting conditions,” Plocher says.

Plocher describes HJR 50 as a commonsense solution to a problem that all of us will face, at some point.

“As I myself am aging at some point I’m going to have too many preexistings where I probably couldn’t be insured at a reasonable rate,” says Plocher. “I think Missouri’s economy, Missouri’s families and the quality of life is better when we have affordable health insurance.”

HJR 50 has not been scheduled for a House hearing yet. Leader Plocher expects it to have bipartisan support.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s interview with Missouri House Majority Floor Leader Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, which was recorded on February 9, 2021:

Senator Nasheed reflects on 14 years at the Missouri Capitol; emphasizes importance of bipartisanship (AUDIO)

January 4, 2021 By Brian Hauswirth

A veteran Missouri lawmaker who served for 14 years in Jefferson City is most proud of her ability to build relationships.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, served all 14 years in the minority party. Her final day in the Senate was New Year’s Eve. She says relationships are the key that unlock the doors to success for elected officials.

State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, speaks on the Missouri Senate floor in Jefferson City on January 28, 2020 (file photo courtesy of Harrison Sweazea at Senate Communications)

“I knew going into this that the Republicans controlled the House, the Senate and the Governor’s Mansion when I got there (2007), that I had to find that middle course and work across party lines,” Nasheed says.

Nasheed was first elected to the Missouri House in 2006 and served three terms. She was then elected to the Senate in 2012 and re-elected in 2016.

She says some of her closest friends to this day are Republicans she met, while serving in the Legislature. Nasheed says bipartisanship is critical for Missouri and the nation.

Education was one of her top priorities. Nasheed says one of her biggest successes happened in 2008, when the Legislature approved her bill ensuring the benefits of the A+ scholarship program for high school students in Missouri’s unaccredited school districts.

“So I was able to pass a piece of legislation in the House that basically stated that if you meet all the requirements, even though you’re in an unaccredited school district, you should still be able to apply for the A-plus scholarship,” says Nasheed.

Because of the bipartisan bill, thousands of students became eligible for free tuition to two-year Missouri colleges and technical schools.

Senator Nasheed is also proud of her legislation that authorized historically black Harris-Stowe State University in St. Louis to offer graduate programs for the first time since its founding in 1857.

Nasheed frequently served on Senate-House budget conference committees, and was outspoken about the need for more Harris-Stowe funding. She tells Missourinet that to this day, Harris-Stowe is not receiving its fair share of higher education funds.

Another issue Senator Nasheed has emphasized is the importance of protecting crime victims, and St. Louis’ increasing murder rate.

St. Louis’ homicide rate in 2020 was its highest in 50 years, with 262 murders. The “St. Louis Post-Dispatch” reported this weekend that the 2020 homicide rate in St. Louis is 30 percent higher than the city has seen in the past 50 years.

Nasheed passed legislation that allows Missouri prosecutors to redact information about crime witnesses.

“Because I’m a firm believer that if we don’t solve the murders, then individuals will be emboldened. And the only way that we can solve the murders is to protect witnesses,” Nasheed says.

There have been witnesses to St. Louis homicides in recent years who were murdered, before they could testify at trial. That includes the highly-publicized “St. Louis murder mom” conspiracy case.

As for disappointments during her 14 years, Senator Nasheed says she wanted to see Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) expanded. While she pushed for expansion, it didn’t happen.

One thing she won’t miss is standing up for hours on the Senate floor in Jefferson City, filibustering. Senator Nasheed says it’s bad on the knees. She describes filibustering as a negotiation tactic to make bills less harmful.

Senator Nasheed says she voted her district.

As for her future, Nasheed says she plans to continue to serve her neighbors and residents in her district, as a private citizen.

Nasheed will be replaced in the Missouri Senate by State Rep. Steven Roberts, D-St. Louis, this week.

Click here to listen to Brian Hauswirth’s full interview with State Sen. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, which was recorded on December 31, 2020:

Missouri’s state treasurer is warning against Medicaid expansion; both sides cite different numbers

July 26, 2020 By Brian Hauswirth

Missouri’s state treasurer and the House Budget Committee chairman will travel across the state on Monday, urging Missourians to vote against Medicaid expansion on the August ballot.

Missouri State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick speaks at a CARES Act funding working group on May 21, 2020 in Jefferson City (file photo courtesy of Tim Bommel at House Communications)

Medicaid, which is formally known as MO HealthNet, is a federal and state program that assists with medical costs for residents with limited incomes.

House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, tells Missourinet that Medicaid’s current budget is almost $12 billion for fiscal year 2021. The state’s current operating budget is about $35.2 billion.

Smith and State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick (R) will visit Joplin, Springfield, Kansas City, Creve Coeur, Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City on Monday. They’ll brief Capitol reporters immediately following the governor’s 3 pm press conference at the Statehouse.

Missourians will cast ballots on Amendment Two, the Medicaid expansion proposal, on August 4. If approved by voters, Medicaid would be expanded for residents between the ages of 19 and 64 with an income level at or below 133 percent of the federal poverty level, as set forth in the Affordable Care Act.

Medicaid expansion supporters say the measure would provide healthcare to Missourians who earn less than $18,000 annually.

Chairman Smith says the August Medicaid expansion ballot measure is projected to cost $200 million in state general revenue, and $1.8 billion in federal funding each year. He also says it will raise Missouri’s Medicaid rolls from 950,000 to more than 1.2 million participants.

Smith also says COVID-19 has had a major impact on Missouri’s economy.

“More than $1 billion has been cut from the state’s general revenue budget in recent months,” Smith says, in a statement. “Just this month, services requiring state support have been drastically reduced, including elementary school funding, college scholarships, and support services for those in need. Amendment Two will be a knockout blow to the state budget as more services will be cut or eliminated to pay for the healthcare of able-bodied adults.”

Supporters of Medicaid expansion disagree, saying the measure will create thousands of new jobs, many of them in rural communities.

The Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry and many unions have endorsed Amendment Two. The Chamber has quoted a study from the Missouri Foundation for Health, which says Medicaid expansion will create more than 16,000 new jobs annually during its first five years, while increasing personal income by $1.1 billion annually.

The Foundation for Health says most of the new positions would be outside of St. Louis and Kansas City, and that 90 percent of those jobs will pay more than $15 an hour.

Medicaid expansion supporters also say that Amendment Two will help keep rural hospitals open.

The Missouri Hospital Association (MHA) says ten rural Missouri hospitals have closed since 2014. Five of the ten ten closings happened in the southeast Missouri district of U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Salem.

The Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest general farm organization, is opposed to Amendment Two. Farm Bureau President Blake Hurst says it could cripple the state budget by imposing massive new healthcare costs on Missouri taxpayers.

37 states have expanded Medicaid.

Sen. Blunt pushes for more information on federal health care application processing centers

June 26, 2014 By Mike Lear

Missouri’s junior senator says he’s still waiting for answers, even after getting a reply to his inquiry about the workload at centers processing federal healthcare plan applications. Whistleblowers say there are too many employees and not enough work at centers managed by Serco in Wentzville and elsewhere in the country that are supposed to process paper applications to the federal health care system.

Senator Roy Blunt (R) and other lawmakers including Congressman Blaine Luetkemeyer (R) sent letters to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services asking about the claims. Blunt says after a long delay he finally got a letter in response, that he says was “vague,” and he wants something better.

“I got a non-answer answer,” says Blunt of the letter he received from Marilyn Tavenner, Administrator with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

“Did you really tell them to refresh their computer every ten minutes so it would look like they’re doing something,” Blunt asks of the working conditions at the Serco facilities. “Did you really bring library books and board games to work so that the people that taxpayers were paying would have something to do? Those are pretty simple ‘yes or no’ questions and I’d like some ‘yeses’ or ‘nos’ to those questions.”

The 1.25-billion dollar federal contract includes more than 3,000 employees. A reported 600 of those are at Wentzville.

MO House Speaker says VA problems support argument against Medicaid expansion (AUDIO)

June 20, 2014 By Mike Lear

The Republican Speaker of the Missouri House says recent problems with the Veterans Health Administration support the stance his caucus has taken against Medicaid expansion. Tim Jones (R-Eureka) has been opposed to using federal dollars to expand eligibility for that program in Missouri since Governor Jay Nixon (D) raised the issue in late 2012.

House Speaker Tim Jones (photo courtesy; Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications)

He says issues that have come to light – veterans needing care being on secret waiting lists, some veterans dying while waiting for care, and records being falsified to reflect shorter wait times than actually experienced – illustrate the problems of having government-run a healthcare system.

“We actually look extremely smart and wise in not expanding Medicaid up to this point,” says Jones.

“The VA healthcare system, the federal Obamacare law and state Medicaid systems – the commonality is they’re all run by a form of the government,” says Jones. “The Medicaid system has now got the heavy hand of the federal government trying to use the carrot-and-stick approach of using the federal bill to expand the state systems.”

“We cannot put our heads in the sand and ignore potential similarities and analogies that can be drawn between the federal government running one massive national healthcare system on one hand versus another,” he adds.

Jones says Medicaid must be reformed rather than just have millions more in tax dollars be applied to the current system.

Medicaid expansion is an issue many Democrats running this year for state legislative seats will focus on.

AUDIO: Jones says running on Medicaid expansion in this year’s campaigns would be a mistake

Hospital Association VP says defunding healthcare reform could hurt its members

September 23, 2013 By Mike Lear

The Missouri Hospital Association says if the federal healthcare reform law is defunded, it will have a drastic impact on hospitals in the state and nationwide.

The House has passed a resolution that would fund the government through December but would pull funding from the president’s healthcare reform plan.

Missouri Hospital Association Vice President Dave Dillon says he understands what Republicans in the House want to do, but says they must remember that the program will cut money to hospitals to pay for the uninsured in anticipation that the money they propose pulling would result in more people with insurance.

“All of those payment cuts are going into place no matter whether the federal government defunds the increases in the insured population. So, what we would see would be over the course of ten years $4-billion in cuts without any corresponding increase in the people who can pay for care.”

Dillon says if Republicans really want to stop the plan alternately called “The Affordable Care Act,” or “Obamacare,” it will require some tough sells.

“It would be very difficult to pass a law that would rescind the ability of individuals to stay on their parents plans until they’re 26 years old. It would be very difficult and unpopular to rescind the extension of insurance without regard to preexisting conditions and without lifetime limits. Those things would be absolutely make or break for the insurance industry.”

Senator Claire McCaskill says the Senate will vote to restore funding to federal healthcare reform and send the resolution back to the House. The situation must be resolved by Monday, the first day of the federal fiscal year, or a shutdown to federal programs and services could result.

House Speaker opposes expansion of Medicaid eligibility in Missouri

November 30, 2012 By Mike Lear

The Republican Speaker of the state House says future Missouri taxpayers will not be able to afford the expansion of Medicaid.

House Speaker Tim Jones (R-Eureka) Photo courtesy, Tim Bommel, Missouri House Communications.

Governor Nixon says he will include Medicaid expansion in his proposed budget for fiscal year 2014. It would extend Medicaid coverage to those making up to 138 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, or an estimated 300,000 Missourians that are currently uninsured. The expansion would be paid for by federal funds through the end of calendar year 2016.

Speaker Tim Jones says that’s not free money.

“At some point it comes from Missouri taxpayers, and something is going to either have to be cut or taxes are going to have to be dramatically raised to continue to support the president’s health care plan.”

After 2016, the state would take over paying for part of the Medicaid expansion. The state would pay five percent in 2017, six percent in 2018, seven percent in 2019 and 10 percent in 2020.

Jones says that plan can’t be counted on due to the national debt.

“I just spoke with some experts in the health care industry and they told me that 90 percent match could just be, if you read the regulations the right way, it could just be a maximum, which means the federal government could start dialing that back and asking the states to even shoulder more cost.”

Jones cites a study by the Kaiser Foundation, which he says supports Medicaid expansion, that says the expansion would cost Missouri $1.6 billion between 2013 and 2022.

“The Missouri budget is 23 to 24 billion dollars. When you start talking about costs in the billions … I have to ask Governor Nixon, I didn’t notice in any of his fly around press statements today that he described how we were going to pay for this cost.”

Jones also criticizes the governor for not announcing his intention to support Medicaid expansion until after the election. Jones thinks doing it earlier could have hurt Nixon in his reelection bid.

“I don’t know if he would have lost or not … he did win by a comfortable margin. However, this is a hot-button issue and this could have been one of those issues that … if the Governor had come out early enough and said firmly, ‘I am going to be in favor of full Medicaid expansion … full welfare expansion,’ that may have turned the tide of the election and he may not have won reelection.”

Jones notes each time Missourians have been given a chance to vote on something related to the Affordable Care Act, they have rejected it. He also says there are other ways to deal with health care issues.

“That could be done through free market reform, through transformation of Medicaid. We can make the health care system more accessible but there’s going to have to be some reform in the system as well and I’d rather the states completely handle it on their own.”

Jones says the priority should be getting Missourians back to work, though Nixon says the expansion of Medicaid would create 24,000 new jobs in Missouri in 2014 alone.

Missouri GOP delegation likes what it hears from Paul Ryan (VIDEO)

August 30, 2012 By Mike Lear

Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan has formally accepted his party’s nomination, at its National Convention in Tampa, Fla. He spoke about the economy, health care and set the stage for Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney to speak tonight.

Missouri’s Congressional Delegation responds to comments from Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan at the 2012 Republican National Convention.

The speech energized convention attendees, including Missouri’s delegation, and there are ties to Missouri to be found in his comments.

Ryan focused much of the speech on the Affordable Care Act. Conservative Missourians turned out in big numbers in 2010 to vote for Proposition C, meant to disarm the Affordable Care Act in the state.

Lafayette County Republican Kay Hoflander says that could be the key issue in this campaign for conservative Missourians.

“He spent a lot of time on Obamacare, and that was really clear,” she says. “I thought his message was straightforward, very easy to understand, very clear … Obamacare is what is destroying Medicare, not the Paul Ryan Plan.”

Hoflander says Medicare is an issue of particular importance to her.

“I’m 65 and I’m on Medicare myself,” Hoflander says. “If people could understand what he said, which was, ‘we’re not going to bleed it to death like Obama and the Democrats want to do.’ They just want to bleed it to death. They have no plan to save it for my children, my grandchildren, but (Ryan) does.”

Hoflander says the speech sent the right messages.

“Exactly what Republicans would like to say to independents, or to Democrats, or to people that are undecided or people that misunderstand what his Medicare program is all about,” she says. “He answered it all tonight.”

Some ad campaigns and messages circulating on the internet try to tie Ryan to Missouri Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, who is under fire including from fellow Republicans for comments made last week about abortion in cases of rape.

See our earlier stories on Todd Akin

Hoflander says it’s not clear how the Akin controversy might play out. “The national polls are not good for (Akin). I think he has some internal polls that he’s saying are good, but the national polls don’t look good. There’s some time, though, so it’s possible, but we just have to wait and see. I know that Democrats have tried to tie Romney, Akin and Ryan all together, but I don’t think that’s going anywhere … I don’t think it’s sticking.”

Romney will address the RNC tonight and formally accept the party’s nomination for President.