The Republican president of the Kansas Senate has ousted Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook from leadership of the Senate’s health committee.

Pilcher-Cook, a Shawnee Republican, said in an emailed statement Friday that Senate President Susan Wagle removed her from her post as chair of the Senate’s Public Health and Welfare Committee. Pilcher-Cook said she was removed because of her attempt to offer a Medicaid expansion proposal on the Senate floor Tuesday for the purpose of voting it down.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports (http://bit.ly/1KNrweE) Wagle responded Saturday by saying Pilcher-Cook had shown “complete disrespect” for the Senate and its rules by bringing the amendment the way she did.

Wagle has tapped Sen. Michael O’Donnell, a Wichita Republican, to head the committee on an interim basis.