JEFFERSON CITY — Faced with a looming and mostly self-inflicted Friday deadline, Missouri’s Republican-led House and Senate completed the one thing they are required to do each year with three hours to spare.
Overcoming internal party divisions in an election year while also relying heavily on Democratic votes in the Senate, the GOP supermajorities approved a nearly $52 billion spending package for the fiscal year beginning July 1.
After months of saber rattling by the Senate’s renegade Freedom Caucus — patterned after the MAGA Republicans in Congress — the five-member, hard-right faction stood down from their pre-debate warnings that they would bog down the process in search of leverage on other issues.
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In the House, following the Senate’s lead, lawmakers approved a plan that hewed closely to their original goals, giving the Legislature’s lower chamber a rare chance to crow that the Senate hadn’t won in the budget battle once again.
House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, a Carthage Republican running for state treasurer, said tens of thousands of hours were spent meeting to craft the plan.
But, he acknowledged, “This process has been less than ideal.â€
Democrats in the House blasted the budget process, saying it was too secretive and lacked public input after a 41-hour Senate filibuster derailed plans for a more comprehensive airing of the plan.
“I think we all know this year has been odd for the budget process. Odd is an understatement,†said Rep. Peter Merideth, a ºüÀêÊÓƵ Democrat who is the ranking minority member of the House Budget Committee. “This should not be the new normal.â€
Senate leaders brushed off criticism that they gave up too much ground to the House in the process.
“It isn’t about who gets the credit. It’s not about saying the Senate won,†said Senate President Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia.
Sen. Lincoln Hough, who is running for lieutenant governor, received bipartisan accolades for shepherding the negotiations through the impasse as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
“I saw what he did behind closed doors. He was fighting for every senator’s project against the House trying to take those out,†said Sen. Tony Luetkemeyer, R-Parkville.
“At the end of the day, he’s made Missouri a better place,†said Sen. Lauren Arthur, D-Kansas City.
Yet, passage of the budget came with a warning from Gov. Mike Parson, who is in his final year as Missouri’s chief executive.
Parson bemoaned the late action on the budget and said he’s ready to use his veto pen to alter the final document if needed.
“Certainly, I’m concerned,†the governor told reporters Thursday. “There’s no doubt there will be fixes.â€
As an example, Parson said he is not in favor of an $8 million allocation to pay for Missouri National Guard troops to be in Texas next year. He said the current troops he’s sent to the southern border as part of a Republican-led response to immigration will return home soon and there are no plans to send more.
“Nobody asked for the $8 million. We didn’t ask for that and we don’t need that money,†Parson said.
The final product includes a fully funded formula for the state aid to public school districts and a 3% boost for universities, which is what Parson requested.
The minimum rate of teacher pay also will rise from $25,000 to $40,000.
A $25 million allocation for an engineering program at the University of Missouri-ºüÀêÊÓƵ was funded as part of a deal cobbled together by Sen. Brian Williams, D-University City.
“This is a priority of mine. It will be a game-changer,†Williams said.
The budget for the Missouri Department of Transportation includes $861 million to upgrade parts of Interstate 44 to three lanes and $60 million to transform U.S. Route 67 to interstate standards from Poplar Bluff to the Arkansas state line.
The plan calls for $100 million in spending to improve low-volume, rural roads.
There also is $500,000 in the Department of Public Safety budget for the recruitment and retention of police officers in ºüÀêÊÓƵ, $4 million to offer trauma treatment for first responders and $750,000 for local police departments to get drug-sniffing dogs.
Also included is $2 million to help the city of Eminence replace a fire station that was damaged in a fire.
Great Rivers Greenway, which builds pedestrian and bicycling trails in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ region, is in line for $10 million.
The plan includes $76 million to build a new laboratory in Jefferson City to be shared by four state agencies.
The new budget reduces by $27 million a plan to boost the pay for workers who care for the state’s developmentally disabled residents.
It also cuts funding for the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City by $200,000 and $4 million for an industrial park in St. Francois County.
In the Department of Conservation budget, the plan includes $1.2 million for feral hog elimination.
The Department of Social Services was a major target of spending reductions. Programs that help low-income Missourians with health care and food costs were reduced by more than $500 million from what the Senate had initially sought.
Some of the same lawmakers who slowed action in the Senate with filibusters earlier in the session were the same lawmakers complaining about the compressed time to review the spending plan before they voted on it.
“There’s no way we can read through all those Senate substitute bills,†said Sen. Denny Hoskins, a Warrensburg Republican who is a member of the Freedom Caucus.
Another Freedom Caucus member, Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican who is running for governor, tried to blame Hough for the Senate having to agree to much of the House’s more limited budget plan.
“It wasn’t really a negotiation, was it?†Eigel said, arguing that his role in the filibuster should be credited for helping to shrink the budget.
“I’ve never seen the Senate so weak,†Eigel said.
Rowden, the leader of the Senate, told Eigel he should be happy the budget is smaller because of the events that pushed the Senate so late.
“I love the gymnastics you throw out to try and justify your actions,†Rowden told Eigel. “The thing that is in front of us is the thing that you want. Take the win.â€
Passage of the blueprint paves the way for Republicans to push their agenda in the final week of the legislative session.
Topping the list is a proposal to make it harder for Missouri voters to change the state Constitution. Democrats are preparing to filibuster the measure when it is brought to the floor. The fight is expected to begin Monday when the Senate reconvenes.
Other items on tap include legislation that would shield chemical giant Bayer from thousands of lawsuits alleging its Roundup weedkiller has caused cancer.
A package of child care tax credits also remains unfinished, pending in Senate. Also in the Senate, legislation by Rep. Jim Murphy, R-south ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, to allow earnings tax refunds for remote work was awaiting floor debate.
A final push to alter the governance of the ºüÀêÊÓƵ Police Department in the final week of session is also possible.
The legislation is House Bi
Jack Suntrup of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.