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Budget passes in Senate despite lengthy filibuster attempt

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — Missouri lawmakers who plan to send Gov. Jay Nixon a budget weeks ahead of schedule hit a speed bump Tuesday night when senators nearly failed to advance a bill to fund the state Department of Social Services in the coming fiscal year because of a debate tied to a new approach to allocating state funds to certain state departments.

Missouri lawmakers debated long into the night on taking a new approach to cutting various government programs by allocating funds for some departments as a lump sum, rather than appropriating funds for individual line items, which resulted in multiple clashes between members on the floor.

Sen. Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, sits atop the Senate Appropriations Committee, where his FY2016 budget proposal allocates funds in large lump sums instead of individual programs for the Department of Social Services, the Department of Mental Health and Department of Health and Senior Services.

It was the Schaefer’s move to shift roughly 200,000 Missourians to Medicaid managed care over current Medicaid fee-for-service options that drew ire from Sen. Rob Schaaf, who led a lengthy filibuster of the state’s budget for Social Services. Well after 3 a.m., a vote was finally tallied and HB 11 failed by a single vote, a rare third-read defeat of a budget bill. Less than an hour later, supporters wrangled every vote into the chamber and moved to reconsider the bill. HB 11 ultimately passed by a vote of 18-15 just before 4 a.m.

Lawmakers working closely on the budget have long complained that various state departments have not always cooperated with budget officials requesting information about what programs need more funding and what programs can be axed. When lawmakers begin crafting budgets for state departments they typically solicit departments to provide information about which programs are most critical, and which could potentially be reduced or slashed.

If ultimately approved, the affected state departments will have far more discretion on what programs to spend their budget on — as opposed to being bound to individual line-item allocations typical of the process — despite the fact that their overall budgets are declining.

Supporters of Schaefer’s move say it forces departments to be more responsible with their money and make tough choices about which programs should get the most focus. Opponents objected both to the cut in services and, in Schaaf’s case, the shift to managed care.

Schaaf fought Schaefer — a candidate for Attorney General in 2016 — who blasted Schaaf repeatedly for “opposing reigning in welfare spending.”

“It is very dangerous to start manipulating on the floor,” Schaefer said. “It’s like a Jenga game, it’s all tied together…we’re going go to conference, some thing are going to change, and I imagine some of these (line items) are going to change.”

In 2003, then-House Budget Chairman Carl Bearden floated a lump-sum proposal for the entire state budget; a move he said was in direct response to uncooperative departments. Bearden said lawmakers tend to stand by cuts they make to the budget, and says he doesn’t see it as an attempt to “pass the buck.”

“In my experience, lawmakers or the governor or whoever are very open to making tough choices on the budget and standing by those choices,” Bearden said. “This is a way to say that if you’re not going to come to the table and help us make these tough choices, then we’re going to make you make those determinations on your own.”

The Senate ultimately advanced the full series of budget bills just after 4 a.m., charting a sure course for a lengthy conference committee process with the House, where a select number of elected officials will ultimately haggle to produce a budget for the governor’s desk, which the state constitution must be complete by May 8.