Senate Gives Initial Approval to 2007 Budget

The State Senate has given preliminary approval to the 2007 Fiscal Year Budget. It’s a $20.8-Billion budget – 8.5 percent larger than the current budget – that adds significantly to education spending and would restore at least some of last year’s Medicaid cuts. The budget fails to resolve differences over how to spend $450-Million from the sale of assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority – MOHELA. The House and Senate have different versions of how the money should be spent. One more vote in the Senate sends the budget to a House-Senate Conference in which the differences will be ironed out.