Missouri House panel OKs bill declaring state has right to deny federal funds for abortion

(The Center Square) – The Missouri Senate has adopted an extension of a hospital tax that pays about one-third of the state’s $11 billion Medicaid program.

The chamber moved the bill after three days of special session debate in Jefferson City over whether taxpayer money should be used for contraceptives and abortion-related services.

After two bills seeking to extend the tax while banning Medicaid funding for contraceptives and Planned Parenthood were rejected, the Senate sent Senate Bill 1, a “clean” extension of the Federal Reimbursement Allowance (FRA) through 2026 without the pro-life language to the House in a 28-5 vote.

Extending the FRA would allow the state to collect $1.28 billion in hospital taxes to draw $2.391 billion in federal Medicaid funding each of the next two years.

The FRA expires Sept. 30, but its extension must be passed by July 4 to be implemented Oct. 1.

Gov. Mike Parson has warned if the FRA is not extended by the end of Wednesday, first thing Thursday – when the new fiscal year begins – he’s cutting $722 million from the budget.

Therefore, the onus was on the House to quickly vet SB 1 and get it onto the floor for passage by Wednesday night.

But that’s not what was happening in the House Tuesday, where SB 1 is not scheduled for floor debate until Wednesday.

By late morning, five bills and one resolution had been introduced and read. Two proposed bills dealing with public monies and abortions were fast-tracked through two readings and dispatched to the House Budget Committee.

House Bill 1 and HB 2 are both filed by Rep. Nick Schroer, R-St. Charles.

HB 1 would make it unlawful for any public funds to be expended to any abortion facility, or to any affiliate or associate of an abortion facility and extends the FRA for only one year instead of the five years outlined under SB 1.

HB 2 would require that “any federal act, law, executive order, administrative order, rule, or regulation shall not infringe on the right of the people of Missouri” to restrict public funds for abortion and “prevent the state or its political subdivisions from being coerced, compelled, or commandeered by the federal government to enact, administer, or enforce a federal regulatory program that directly or indirectly funds abortion.”

HB 2 would also “prohibit the federal government from commanding or conscripting public officials of the state or its political subdivisions to enforce a federal regulatory program that directly or indirectly funds abortion.”

While HB 1’s fate was uncertain late Tuesday afternoon, HB 2 had been approved by the House Budget Committee in a 20-9 vote and sent to the House Rules – Legislative Oversight Committee.

HB 1 and HB 2 are the same proposals that Senate conservatives espoused during the regular session.

SB 1’s “clean” FRA extension doesn’t “defund” Planned Parenthood or deny funding for contraceptives, but precludes Medicaid spending for drugs/devices “used for the purpose of inducing an abortion.”

Eighteen of the Senate’s 23 Republicans joined all 10 Democrats in approving SB 1 because, they said, they did not want to endanger Medicaid funding for hundreds of thousands of Missourians.

HB 1 and HB 2 are likely to be on the floor Wednesday when the House votes on the FRA extension.

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