GOP BUDGET DEBATE Kasich Calls GOP Debate On Budget 'Healthy'
Reported by: Associated Press
Web Producer: Heath Harrison
Reported: Feb. 13, 2013 8:35 PM EST
Updated: Feb. 13, 2013 8:40 PM EST
Eyewitness News Photo
Columbus, Franklin County
, Ohio
Ohio's governor is brushing off suggestions policies in his two-year state budget proposal are fracturing his Republican Party.
Gov. John Kasich told reporters Wednesday evening he views it as "a nice, honest, healthy debate over big ideas."
Kasich's budget incorporates a significant rewrite of Ohio's tax code that delivers $1.4 billion in tax cuts over three years. But the revisions also would impose sales taxes on professional services including lawyers, lobbyists and accountants. That could see pushback from Republicans who control the Legislature.
Kasich's spending plan also includes an expansion of Medicaid. Ohio's state treasurer on Monday encouraged his fellow Republicans in the Legislature to reject the expansion.
The governor says Medicaid is complicated and he didn't make much of Treasurer Josh Mandel's letter.
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