Missouri Senate filibuster ends with vote on multibillion-dollar Medicaid program

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — A dayslong filibuster in the Missouri Senate has ended. Senators gave initial approval in a voice vote Thursday to a $4 billion Medicaid program that Freedom Caucus members had been holding hostage. The members say they want the Legislature to first pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would make it harder to pass future constitutional amendments. They also want GOP Gov. Mike Parson to sign a bill kicking Planned Parenthood off Medicaid. Neither of those demands were met. But Freedom Caucus members say they now have a coalition of senators willing to force a vote on the constitutional amendment.