A Senate filibuster of SB 389 , legislation authorizing the sale of assets of MOHELA – the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority - came to a temporary halt after nine hours of debate that began Monday evening and went into Tuesday morning. The stalling got underway as Senator Chuck Graham of Columbia, an opponent of the proposal, began a filibuster he eventually handed off to a series of fellow Democrats.

In the early going, Graham raised concerns that the current list of capital projects to be funded with MOHELA money is quite different from the initial list – because the research facilities that had been in the original package were taken out for political reasons, including those involving certain forms of stem cell research.

Graham told the chamber he believed in Governor Matt Blunt’s original proposal and would like to see a deal worked out to put together a package that is closer to the original proposal.

The filibuster ended at 4:30 Tuesday morning, with no vote having been taken. The Senate moved to other business before returning to the MOHELA legislation shortly after 5 o’clock.