OHIO HOUSE Work winds down on budget proposal

Some of the GOP's priorities match the Democratic governor's.
COLUMBUS (AP) -- Expanding Medicaid was among the issues Republicans in the Ohio House wrestled with Saturday night as they worked to put the finishing touches on their version of a two-year budget proposal.
Some of the GOP's priorities match those laid out by Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland. A House finance committee planned a late-evening vote on the 52.1 billion proposal before sending it for a scheduled House vote Tuesday.
The House bill includes 587 million more than Strickland's already generous increase, retains the governor's proposal to sell off Ohio's tobacco settlement share to pay for property tax breaks for seniors, bolsters money for public schools, and extends Medicaid coverage to more children.
Disagreement with governor
The House wasn't expected to change its mind in key areas where its budget reverses the governor: reinstituting charter and voucher schools Strickland wanted to abolish, retaining abstinence-only sex education Strickland wanted to eliminate; and providing guaranteed funding to public colleges and universities rather than employing the compact Strickland had proposed tying their state payouts to meeting efficiency standards.
Earlier in the week, Republicans said they also planned to drop the governor's expansion of Medicaid health insurance to 25,000 parents of children under 19.
But overall Ohio's first budget since 1971 to be presented by a governor of one party to a Legislature controlled by the other has gone extremely smoothly.
State Rep. Bob Hagan, a Youngstown Democrat, said his party had only a handful of amendments to offer when they began the day Saturday and the list was shrinking as GOP House leaders were accepting them into the compromise they would approve later Saturday.