We’re used to hearing Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren shout about college affordability, rallying hoards of debt-ridden youth with stats of bankers’ bonuses compared to rising tuition costs.

On Wednesday, a senator of a different sort, Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee weighed in on the cost of college (not for the first time). He explained that forced Medicaid expansion under Obamacare has robbed funds from public education—and state universities in particular have suffered.