JEFFERSON CITY — Republicans who control the Missouri Senate clashed again Wednesday before beginning debate on a plan aimed at defunding Planned Parenthood.
Senate Appropriations Chairman Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, wanted the upper chamber to take action on his plan to renew a medical provider tax critical to funding Missouri’s Medicaid program.
Sen. Bill Eigel, a Weldon Spring Republican running for governor, instead wanted to debate a proposed ballot question seeking to make constitutional amendments more difficult to approve.
In the end, both measures were set aside for the time being as Republicans turned to the measure to defund Planned Parenthood.
The action paused an open airing of grievances between Republican factions that was playing out on the Senate floor Wednesday, putting the spotlight on Democrats, who immediately stood to oppose the plan.
People are also reading…
The winding legislative roadmap frustrated Hough, but delighted Eigel, who has served as the Senate’s resident obstructionist in recent years.
“I can’t tell you how much it warms my heart to see you have to come out here and throw a temper tantrum because you’re not getting your way,†Eigel told Hough.
Hough denied that he was throwing a temper tantrum. He said the Senate should give first-round approval to the renewal of the medical provider tax, known as the Federal Reimbursement Allowance.
“It’s one of those funding mechanisms for hospitals and nursing homes ... that has to get done. It’s $4.5 billion,†Hough said.
Taxpayer dollars already are barred for abortions in Missouri. The Planned Parenthood defunding would attempt to bar the state’s Medicaid program from reimbursing other medical services performed at Planned Parenthood facilities.
Supporters of defunding Planned Parenthood say its Missouri clinics are affiliated with clinics operating in states where abortion is legal and should not receive money from taxpayers.
The legislation Wednesday comes after abortion opponents fought unsuccessfully to attach similar language to the Federal Reimbursement Allowance legislation in 2021.
Opponents of attaching the anti-abortion language to that legislation said it would jeopardize federal funding for the Medicaid program.
Amid Democratic resistance, the Senate adjourned Wednesday evening without taking action on the Planned Parenthood measure.
Missouri Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R.-Sikeston, discusses recent actions in the Senate, where some senators (members of the Freedom Caucus) are holding up votes on some bills. Video provided by the Senate's media office; edited by Beth O'Malley
