and the severely retarded.

Many governors and state Medicaid directors contacted by The Associated Press has high hopes for the Republican plan to shift responsibility for Medicaid to the State.

"It is heartening to see, congress come to conclusions we at horse have known for a long time--that those who live in the states know what's best for their people", said Kansas Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican.

But across the border in Nebraska, Gov. Ben Nelson, a Democrat, is worried. "I'm extremely concerned that in their haste to balance the budget back there they'll but the budget down here," he said.

Nelson, who wants to run for the Senate, believes in the "block grant" concept of giving hump sums to states, but that Congress will take, too much away when it turns over the keys to Medicated.

Republicans say they will allow for 39 percent growth in Medicaid grants over seven years when they turn the program over to the states. Washington would send $772 billion to the states through 2002.

But if Medicaid were left alone, the states would get $954 billion during those same years, according to the Clinton administrations.

The extra money would go in part to expend the Medicaid rolls from 36 million to 45 million people.