Caleb Rowden

Both Senate bills now go to the House. In addition to the special session, the annual veto session ended on Wednesday, with no legislation overridden by lawmakers this year.

The caucus frequently clashed with Republican leadership but now members say they want a united front to pursue GOP platform policies.

A group of senators used a rarely seen parliamentary maneuver to send a 6-2 Republican majority congressional map to the Missouri House.

Unlike the House version, the Senate substitute uses state money to fund charter schools. The bill now goes back to the House, where it would need to pass to reach the governor.

Despite passing a more than $46.5 billion budget, the House left about $1.8 billion in general revenue unspent. Senate leaders have indicated they plan to spend at least some of that leftover money.

The budget bills come as the Missouri Senate is expected to make changes to the House’s legislation. Senators have expressed frustration at the House taking what they believe is longer than normal on the budget with only six weeks left in the 2022 session.

The House vote against the map comes after the Senate rejected the House’s request for a conference committee to find a compromise on the bill. If the stalemate doesn’t break, the task of drawing the maps would likely go to the courts.

The map makes several changes compared to the House version that passed in January, including adding an emergency clause, which would put it into effect before the Aug. 2 primary.

While the Missouri House has already passed nearly 40 bills, gridlock in the Senate has brought operations in the upper chamber to a near-standstill. With eight weeks left, only a supplemental budget bill has made it past the finish line so far.

Rowden also spoke about the Senate’s progress on congressional redistricting as well as how he feels the 2022 legislative session is going one month in.