Majority Senate Democrats pushed through wide-ranging amendments to the state budget today, while smothering all but one amendment proposed by Republicans.

Among the GOP casualties were efforts to root out large-scale Medicaid fraud, make higher-ed more affordable and beef up the successful Read-to-Achieve literacy program.

The Senate meanwhile voted down a Democrat budget proposal by freshman Sen. John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, that would have cut funding to an El Paso County corrections facility offering the state’s only program preparing inmates for parole so they don’t return to prison.

In a budget debate that dominated the Senate’s workday, Republicans unsuccessfully offered four amendments that would have given a lift to cash-strapped college students, especially those who excelled and showed promise in math and science.

One of the proposals, by Sen. Ron May, R-Colorado Springs, would have made $8.5 million of higher-education funds available for merit-based grants to students who show aptitude in math or science.

Another, by Assistant Senate GOP leader Nancy Spence of Centennial, would have restored almost $8 million for the Governor’s Opportunity Scholarships, which are need-based but also reward merit.

An amendment proposed to the budget by Sen. Ted Harvey, R-Highlands Ranch, would have made across-the-board cuts to the state’s bureaucracy in order to increase tuition stipends that the state provides to college students. And an amendment carried by Sen. Scott Renfroe, R-Eaton, would have lowered to 5 percent the pending tuition hikes at the state’s major universities.

Republicans were able to join with Democrats to stop Morse’s proposal, which would have cut the reimbursement rate for privately run prisons to increase reimbursements to county jails holding state inmates. That would have undercut funding to the Cheyenne Mountain Re-entry Center in Morse's own district, docking the program nearly $137,000 a year. Senate Republicans pointed out the cut could have jeopardized Gov. Bill Ritter’s agenda for reducing recidivism.

“It (the program) has shown tremendous success, something that actually has reduced the rate of recidivism,” said Senate GOP chief Andy McElhany, whose Colorado Springs district neighbors Morse’s. Added Sen. Greg Brophy, R-Wray, “This amendment is really shortsighted. To punish our partners in public safety … is really the wrong way to go.”

Members in both parties closed ranks to reject Morse’s proposal.

An unsuccessful amendment by Brophy would have directed the state's Medicaid fraud unit  to investigate companies that have been found guilty of Medicare and Medicaid fraud in other states. One recent, high-profile case in South Dakota, involving a manufacturer of medical devices called the Stryker Corp., alerted GOP senators to the potential for medical providers to defraud our own state's Medicaid system

The proposal drew fierce opposition from some Democrats, including Majority Leader Ken Gordon, D-Denver, who dismissed the amendment as "micromanagement."

Several members of the GOP noted the state's Medicaid administrators are more inclined to look for small-time fraud by Medicaid recipients rather than abuses by large corporations that are reimbursed by the program.

"Why not go after the big fish?" said Sen. Shawn Mitchell, R-Broomfield. "We need to go after the major players."