Obviously, for a conservative in today's climate to suggest the expansion of a federally funded program is politically risky. The Dispatch even cited a Tea Party group who "threatened a primary challenge for any Republican lawmaker who votes in favor of the expansion."
The article goes on...
“I know it’s controversial,” Kasich said, before he called out a Republican representative by name. “We’re not ignoring the weak. Jim Buchy (of Greenville), the Lord doesn’t want us to ignore them.”Kasich's reasoning for the proposed expansion is "the $13 billion he says it will return to Ohio over seven years and because of the funding it would free up to treat the mentally ill," according to the Dispatch.
It'll be interesting to see what political push back will happen from Kasich's stance, but I also wonder what the specific reaction from law makers like Buchy will be? Maybe he will address it in a future guest column?