Work in Missouri House Slows to a Crawl

A slow pace, sometimes close to a snail’s pace, dominated work in the Missouri House prior to the annual spring break. Republicans have been prolonging debate on nearly every bill, no matter how routine, as they express their anger at Democrats who shut down debate and cut them out of a bill on the tobacco settlement. They relented somewhat so the House could complete work on the $17-Billion dollar state budget before taking a week off. House Republican leader Delbert Scott leaves no doubt he remains angry two weeks later. He says that anger will be used to scrutinize every bill and keep what he terms “bad legislation” from passing. The leader of the Democrats, House Speaker Steve Gaw, says how Republicans are expressing that anger is misplaced. He says communication is the only way the two sides will be able to resolve their differences. Gaw says Republicans are hurting the people by holding up important legislation.