<figure>
 <img src="https://media.eaglewebservices.com/public/2020/2/1581950030848.jpeg" alt=" Medicaid expansion advocates attend a rally last month at the Kansas Statehouse. Stephen Koranda / Kansas News Service" />
 <figcaption> Medicaid expansion advocates attend a rally last month at the Kansas Statehouse. Stephen Koranda / Kansas News Service</figcaption>
 </figure>By STEPHEN KORANDA, <a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-medicaid-expansion-blocked-supporters-frustrated-and-lawmakers-considering-nuclear#stream/0">Kansas News Service</a>TOPEKA — The Kansas legislative session 
began with what seemed like a done deal for expanding Medicaid. Gov. 
Laura Kelly and a top Republican senator had <a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-paves-medicaid-expansion-path-after-governor-and-top-republican-break-partisan-logjam" target="_blank">forged a compromise</a> to offer health coverage for up to 130,000 low-income Kansans.About a month later, the deal<a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/four-kansas-republicans-stopped-their-partys-anti-abortion-bill-gop-says-its-not-over"> has </a><a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/four-kansas-republicans-stopped-their-partys-anti-abortion-bill-gop-says-its-not-over" target="_blank">ground to a halt </a>—
 and even the state budget could be held up — because of abortion 
politics. Medicaid supporters are irritated. Moderate Republicans and 
Democrats are ready to fight back with delays. And abortion opponents 
haven’t budged.“I’m pretty frustrated,” said Republican Sen. 
Randall Hardy, who supports expanding Medicaid. “I’m willing to consider
 almost anything at this point.”The strategy of holding up the 
Legislature to get Medicaid expansion is a risky play, Washburn 
University political science professor Bob Beatty said. It could anger 
voters if the delay drags on to the point that important services like 
roads and law enforcement aren’t funded.“This is the nuclear 
option,” Beatty said, “because the last thing voters, constituents and 
even legislators want is for the Legislature to not be able to do 
anything, including funding programs that everybody agrees should be 
funded.”The Senate already passed the proposed constitutional amendment on abortion, which would overturn <a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/kansas-supreme-court-state-constitution-protects-abortion-rights#stream/0" target="_blank">a court ruling</a> that said the state constitution gurantees women a right to the procedure. But the House <a href="https://www.kcur.org/post/four-kansas-republicans-stopped-their-partys-anti-abortion-bill-gop-says-its-not-over?nopop=1#stream/0" target="_blank">narrowly rejected it</a>&nbsp;on Feb. 7.That
 led the influential anti-abortion group Kansans for Life to call for 
blocking Medicaid expansion until the amendment is on a ballot, 
something Republican Senate President Susan Wagle has promised will 
happen.Abortion opponents say the delay is necessary, fearing 
that the court ruling on abortion rights could lead to state money being
 used for abortions through an expanded Medicaid program.“If we 
want to be able to protect human life and protect the citizens of Kansas
 from being forced to fund abortions through Medicaid, then this is just
 a position that we have to take,” Kansans For Life’s Director of 
Government Relations Jeanne Gawdun said earlier this month.Senate Majority Leader Jim Denning, the Republican who helped draft the Medicaid compromise, is <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/health/kansas-leader-decries-attempts-to-tie-abortion-medicaid/" target="_blank">pushing back</a>, saying state funding would not go to abortion due to federal law.Last year, Democrats and moderate Republicans tried holding up the budget <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/kansas/articles/2019-05-03/medicaid-expansion-backers-in-kansas-to-try-to-block-budget" target="_blank">in the House</a>
 to get Medicaid expansion, but ultimately didn’t have enough votes. The
 top Democrat in the House said expansion is such a high priority this 
year that they’re willing to try again if needed.“We will keep discussing it with them to get that leverage,” House Minority Leader Tom Sawyer said.Since
 Republicans hold strong majorities in both chambers, Democrats would 
need to attract a healthy number of Republicans like Hardy if they hope 
to successfully block any bills.Meanwhile, Medicaid supporters held a rally last week, shouting their disapproval of the whole situation inside the Statehouse.“There’s
 been one delay after another,” Alliance for a Healthy Kansas Executive 
Director April Holman said, “with no end in sight.”Stephen Koranda is the Statehouse reporter for Kansas Public Radio and the Kansas News Service. You can follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/kprkoranda">@kprkoranda</a>.

Kan. Medicaid expansion blocked — lawmakers considering 'nuclear option'