Senate blockade ends, but budget crunch has Missouri lawmakers worried (2024)

JEFFERSON CITY — A small faction of Missouri senators set a record for futility early Thursday when they ended a more than 40-hour filibuster without winning any of their publicly stated demands.

The five remaining Senate members of the hard-right Freedom Caucus dropped their blockade at about 3:30 a.m., allowing Republican leaders to position a key piece of the state budget for Senate passage when they return Monday.

Senate leaders and the governor didn’t budge.

In a radio interview Thursday on KCMO, Sen. Mike Cierpiot, R-Lee’s Summit, said the filibuster was not about legislation pending in the Senate, but aimed at boosting the profile of Freedom Caucus members as they seek statewide office.

He accused the filibuster ringleader, Sen. Bill Eigel, R-Weldon Spring, of trying to earn free media for his run for governor.

“That’s all this is about. Getting them attention,” Cierpiot said, adding that the faction’s behavior is an indication of “how unserious these people are about moving public policy forward.”

The delay in the Senate, however, has put the approval of the state budget in a significant time crunch.

Lawmakers are required to have the spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 completed by May 10.

The House has done its work, but the Senate has not brought the budget to the floor. Typically, the Senate would approve its budget and open the door to negotiations with the House, easing the way for both chambers to finish their work.

While the Senate can get their budget done by next Friday, there are doubts whether that leaves enough time for negotiations with the lower chamber.

That scenario has House Budget Committee Chairman Cody Smith, R-Carthage, worried.

“I’m certainly growing more concerned about our ability to go to conference,” Smith said. “That seems increasingly more unlikely.”

The next step, if the two sides cannot finish by the deadline, could be an overtime session stretching into June where the budget process would have to start over from scratch.

Rather than hitting the road to campaign for the August primary, lawmakers would be in the Capitol, trying to hash out an agreement to avoid a shutdown of government operations.

“Nobody wants that. I would much prefer to get the budget done in the regular session,” Smith said.

Among the pressure points that could arise are spending shortfalls for the Medicaid program and public schools, Smith said.

Despite the time crunch, the Capitol was quickly emptying out at 9 a.m. Thursday with no plans to return until Monday afternoon.

More stalling could happen next week.

Members of the Freedom Caucus, including Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, say they plan to go through the budget line-by-line, potentially drawing out the process even longer.

The Senate version of the spending blueprint is about $53 billion, spread across nearly 20 bills. The House version is about $2 billion less than the package in the Senate.

The end-of-session dysfunction drew the attention of Democrats.

House Minority Leader Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, told reporters there are growing concerns about the Republican Party’s ability to govern.

“When Republicans have the governor’s office and both majorities in the House and Senate, they could have gotten this done with plenty of wiggle room left over before the deadline,” said Quade, who is running for governor.

“The biggest thing to note, again, is that we have one party that is in control of everything, and they can’t get along long enough to be able to pass our budget, which is the one thing that we are constitutionally required to do,” Quade added.