Senate OKs $192 million of additional spending for current budget year

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The Missouri Senate on Monday endorsed an additional $192 million in spending for the current state budget year, setting up the need to reconcile the bill with a slightly lesser House version.

The annual supplemental spending legislation covers costs not included in the original $19.2 billion budget for the fiscal year that runs through June. 30. This year, like many, the bulk of the extra spending would go toward the Medicaid health-care program for the poor.

The House in February passed a $185 million bill that included more than $136 million for Medicaid; the Senate version includes nearly $144 million for Medicaid.

Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Chuck Gross, R-St. Charles, said delegates from the two chambers likely would negotiate a final Medicaid figure in a conference committee while also settling a few other discrepancies.

Both chambers must pass the same version of the bill for it to go to Gov. Matt Blunt.

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Budget bill HB1014

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Legislature: http://www.moga.mo.gov