Missouri state senators stalling budget discussions

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KY3) — Missouri Lawmakers have just two weeks left before they’re expected to deliver a budget to the governor, but progress is seemingly stalled in the Senate.

Even though the Missouri House trimmed some of Governor Parson’s roughly $50 billion spending plan, which hinges on the renewal of Missouri’s Medicaid funding system: the FRA tax.

A small group of Republican senators, known as the “Freedom Caucus,” is demanding the bill include language that blocks any Medicaid funding from going to abortion providers, even though abortion is already illegal in Missouri. Because of the stalemate, the Senate spent time last week debating a bill that would allow gold and silver to be non-taxable, legal currency in the state.

“All week long, we could have been talking about the FRA like Senator Rizzo just mentioned, the things that are important to the people of this state to try to get a go forward to get a budget,” said State Senator Doug Beck. “But we’re perfecting a Senate bill, four weeks out on gold and silver on a Thursday. And that is frustrating in itself.”

The same disagreement held up the renewal of the FRA in 2021, forcing lawmakers to convene a special session that summer to break the stalemate.

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