JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — A fight over one senator's bib overalls was shunted aside Wednesday so the Missouri Legislature's fractured upper chamber could finally approve a midyear budget adjustment that boosts state worker pay and bans funds for Planned Parenthood.
After weeks of inaction, the massive supplemental budget was sent back to the House for further action on a 25-7 vote. If the House concurs with the Senate version, it would head to Gov. Mike Parson's desk.
Business in the Senate had been stuck in a dress code dilemma for two days as Sen. Mike Moon, R-Ash Grove, read from a book. He was angered that the Senate president had removed him from committees after he wore denim bib overalls on the Senate floor, in violation of chamber dress code.
With Moon and Senate President Pro Tem Dave Schatz, R-Sullivan, announcing a truce Wednesday afternoon, senators were able to proceed to the Republican governor's long-sought supplemental budget that will provide a 5.5% cost-of-living raise to state workers as managers struggle to retain staff.
The supplemental budget will allow agency managers to provide wages that match market rates, without setting a $15 base pay that had proved controversial in the House, said Sen. Dan Hegeman, R-Cosby, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.
"It really does not deal with a baseline," Hegeman said. "We are giving you the ability to be able to hire folks in these much-needed areas, retain your employees and, you know, and go to the market rate."
A recurring exodus of workers in state government has led to added costs for temporary workers, long waits on state hotlines, limits on nursing home beds for veterans and caps on people needing mental health treatment.
But the massive $4.5 billion budget measure, which Parson originally sought by Feb. 1, was briefly held up by Democrats opposed to a provision that would block state funds for Planned Parenthood clinics, including ones where abortions aren't provided.
Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, proposed an amendment to reverse the move. Schupp's proposal was rejected on a partisan 10-23 vote after heated debate, potentially signaling the issue would eventually have to be resolved by the court system.
"Once again, this body has used this legislation, this budget bill, to legislate and to remove funding from Planned Parenthood," Schupp argued, adding an estimated 7,600 Medicaid recipients use the provider for services such as treatment for sexually transmitted infections, cancer screenings and contraception.
"They're not all women," Schupp said of Planned Parenthood patients. "They're low-income people, or people who need to make sure they get access.
"This is not about abortion," Schupp said. "This is about taking away contraception from low-income women around the state, and from providing health care to low-income people around the state.
"I don't know what facility the people who put this into our budget bill think that these 7,600 patients will go to to get their health care," Schupp said.
"We have a great network of FQHCs (federally qualified health centers)," Hegeman said.
Said Schupp, "The FQHCs are going to be overwhelmed."
While the state already doesn't fund abortion, Hegeman said that wasn't enough.
"Right now, we don't fund abortions in the state of Missouri, but we do fund organizations that support abortion services," Hegeman said.
"This is not the kind of funding that we want to do in Missouri," he said to Schupp. "We've had a position in the state of Missouri for the past number of years, much to your chagrin, of us not funding facilities that provide abortions and ... affiliates of those facilities."
Debate over the budget followed a resolution to the conflict with Moon, who in addition to wearing bib overalls has repeatedly worked with other hard-liners to bedevil GOP leaders' agenda.
After talks Wednesday, Schatz said his initial approach to Moon about his bib overalls was "maybe in a manner that was taken as offensive."
"I apologize for that. I wish I had handled it differently," Schatz said. "I don't think this will be my last mistake."
But, Schatz added, "I am pleased to move on with this."
Moon acknowledged that he may have reacted just as harshly, saying many lawmakers have "drives to be fighters" for the needs of their constituents.
"They expect us to come in and fight for what is right," Moon said.
