Lincoln Hough

Despite the Missouri House voting to overturn multiple budget vetoes, the Senate did not take any further action, leaving those vetoes intact.

The Senate’s plan to go beyond the $860 million initially proposed to expand Interstate 70 remained in the budget agreed to by a Senate-House conference committee Wednesday night. Other Senate positions that remained were state funding for public libraries and the elimination of anti-DEI language in the budget.

The Senate’s proposed budget is $4.2 billion more than what the House passed weeks ago. Like in the House, most of the debate in the Senate was spent over an amendment that would have inserted language against diversity, equity and inclusion.

Senate Appropriations Chair Lincoln Hough said after speaking with departments, businesses and vendors, he recommended removing the anti-diversity, equity and inclusion language. The committee still must pass the budget bills before they can make it to the Senate floor.

The Senate plan would spend nearly $2.8 billion to expand the entire interstate to three lanes each way.

Instead of speaking on the billions of dollars within the Missouri budget, House Democrats repeatedly spoke out against language added to each bill that prohibits spending on anything associated with diversity, equity and inclusion. That language is expected to be stripped out in the Senate.

Sen. Lincoln Hough, R-Springfield, expressed unease with the measure so soon after a deadly school shooting in Nashville.

The Missouri Senate passed the first of two supplemental budgets on Wednesday. With no changes made to the bill, it now goes to Gov. Mike Parson, who’s expected to sign it.

Both Senate bills now go to the House. In addition to the special session, the annual veto session ended on Wednesday, with no legislation overridden by lawmakers this year.

The session, called by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson, is supposed to center around a permanent income tax cut as well as tax credits for agriculture. However, some lawmakers are filing unrelated bills in hopes of passing them this time around.