JEFFERSON CITY – Medicaid expansion advocates celebrated victory in August after more than 53% of voters said the program should add more than 200,000 Missourians.

But last week, Republican House Budget Committee members voted down House Bill 20, which would have provided almost $1.9 billion in funding for the voter-approved expansion.

Committee Democrats backed the bill and characterized the GOP’s no vote as a betrayal of Missouri voters.

“Fifty-three percent of Missourians understood that Medicaid expansion was the right thing to do,” Rep. Rasheen Aldridge, D-St. Louis, said. “Allow the people to have a voice; they’ve already spoken.”

Rep. Maggie Nurrenbern, D-Kansas City, said she has been unhappy at times with the way Missourians vote.

“I’ll be the first to say I don’t always like what our people vote for, but I always respect the will of the voters,” Nurrenbern said.

Minority Floor Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, released a statement criticizing the bill killers: “Medicaid expansio…