A majority of Republicans and DFLers in the House of Representatives put aside their differences this afternoon and voted 125-9 to restore and reform the General Assistance Medical Care program for poor childless adults.

"For citizens who may be watching, this is a demonstration that we [the DFL and GOP] can solve problems," House Assistant Majority Leader Erin Murphy said shortly before the vote on the bill she authored.

Today’s vote also is a demonstration that the House could have a veto-proof majority to override the governor. Which it will need. A short time ago, MPR’s Polinaut reported that Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s spokesman, Brian McClung, said the governor will veto the bill tonight tomorrow morning and is preparing a veto message.

"Governor Pawlenty is vetoing this bill because it irresponsibly spends $170 million, further exacerbating the state's budget problems, and includes virtually no reform," McClung said in the email. "The legislature has chosen to pass a massive spending bill without first crafting a comprehensive, balanced budget solution. They've got things backwards. Both DFLers and Republicans who voted for this bill should be held accountable for taking out the state's checkbook when there's not only no money, but a deficit."

A few days before the end of the last session, Pawlenty used a line-item veto and unallotment to strike $396 million in funding for GAMC.

"We have been working very closely ... to find an agreement" the governor will sign, Rep. Matt Dean, R-Dellwood, said on the floor.

Dean and Murphy and others in both parties received kudos and thanks for their efforts to work across the aisle on an issue that had sharply divided the House along party lines last May — when the DFL majority was unable to override Pawlenty’s line-item veto of the funding.

Among the nine Republicans voting against the bill was gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer of Delano, though he did not express his concerns on the floor today.

The slimmed down GAMC bill is a 16-month temporary fix that will offer care to up to 38,000 enrollees a month at a cost of $457 per recipient. Legislators are holding out hope that federal health-care reform will expand the Medicaid program to include childless adults.

Republicans offered a number of amendments today, one of which would have set up a pilot project with 1,000 MinnesotaCare enrollees to assist them in getting insurance in the private market. Though that amendment failed, the House approved another GOP amendment to conduct a census of GAMC recipients to determine whether or not they would be eligible for other public-health programs from the Veterans Administration and Medical Assistance (Medicaid), the latter of which receives a federal match.

Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, who worked on the pilot project proposal, said it’s important for the system to "look at the right place to deliver the right care at the right time" for low-income people in need of health care.

"I’m very appreciative of the House passing what was pretty well a bipartisan-supported endeavor ... and I think that shows a real understanding that there is actually some good fiscal policy in continuing to insure the most-needy of our population," said Mike Harristhal, vice president of policy and strategy for Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis.

HCMC, the state’s largest safety-net hospital, stood to lose $50 million in annual funding if GAMC had not been restored. If the legislation is enacted, HCMC would receive about $30 million, Harristhal estimated.

Meanwhile, Hennepin County’s Board of Commissioners has approved a property tax increase that could restore as much as $18 million to HCMC’s budget. But that’s not a sure bet, he said, explaining that the county may have to cover other shortfalls arising from the state’s deficit.

"The state of Minnesota is short on budgetary resources, but Minnesotans are rich with conscience," Murphy said. "What we have accomplished today reflects both realities."

Video of the floor debate is here. The Senate, which passed its version of the bill a week ago, concurred with the House vote this afternoon.