On Tuesday, Republicans appeared to have reached a fragile consensus around extending a tax crucial to Missouri鈥檚 Medicaid finances 鈥� opening the door for Gov. Mike Parson to call lawmakers into special session next week.
By Friday afternoon, that consensus appears to have been derailed, at least temporarily, by disagreements over a proposed amendment that would prevent Planned Parenthood from being a Medicaid provider.
House Republicans were informed in a Friday conference call with the chamber鈥檚 leadership that the governor will not be issuing the call for a special session as originally expected, and that a continued stalemate could lead to drastic budget cuts when the new fiscal year begins July 1.
Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, confirmed Friday afternoon that he has informed Senators that a call is not imminent but that they should keep the next two weeks open.
Kelli Jones, the governor鈥檚 spokeswoman, did not respond to an email seeking comment.
At stake is the extension of a tax on hospitals, nursing homes, pharmacies and ambulances known as the federal reimbursement allowance, or FRA. The taxes have been in place since 1992, and lawmakers have voted to renew them 16 times with little controversy.
Without a renewal by July 1, Parson has said he will be forced to restrict spending in the new fiscal year to sustain the Medicaid program. The taxes are budgeted to provide $2.6 billion in the coming fiscal year for the $12 billion Medicaid program.
The issue that derailed the FRA during session was an attempt by Sen. Paul Wieland, R-Imperial, to attach an amendment limiting Medicaid payments for contraceptive care.
Later, Sen. Bob Onder, R-Lake St. Louis, insisted that language be included that would prevent Planned Parenthood from being a Medicaid provider.
Senate Republicans emerged from a meeting with Parson on Tuesday with a plan to include a version of Wieland鈥檚 amendment but not Onder鈥檚.
Critics of Onder鈥檚 amendment say it would put Missouri out of compliance federal law.
In an interview Wednesday with The Independent, Onder declared that that didn鈥檛 include his Planned Parenthood language.
鈥淚 think that there has been some narrative that somehow a grand compromise and deal has been reached and everything is great,鈥� he said Wednesday, 鈥渂ut that is not the case.鈥�
Onder was joined in the push by Rep. Nick Schroer, R-O鈥橣allon, who tweeted Thursday that the issue will be dealt with during .
Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said the drama over the FRA is an example of the continued dysfunction in the Missouri Senate.
Disagreement among Republicans , Rizzo said, culminating with the failure of the FRA.
While Rizzo had hoped tempers would ease in the weeks following adjournment, allowing for FRA negotiations to resume, he said 鈥渢here has been no fence mending.
鈥淚 feel like they believed the inertia of this problem was going to bring everyone together,鈥� Rizzo said. 鈥淏ut it has instead exacerbated the problems.鈥�
The right thing to do, Rizzo argues, is for Parson to 鈥渃all a special session for a clean FRA that鈥檚 been passed without any issues for decades.鈥�
Missouri Independent is part of States Newsroom, a network of news outlets supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Missouri Independent maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jason Hancock for questions: info@missouriindependent.com.
