Marshall Griffin

All-night Filibuster Ends in Mo. Senate

An all-night filibuster in the Missouri Senate is over. Tuesday afternoon, four Republicans began blocking a capital improvements bill because their attempt to remove $41 million in federal stimulus funds was voted down. The filibuster ended just before 6 a.m. this morning, after an agreement was reached to send more than $14 million back to Washington. That proposal was offered by fellow Republican Brad Lager from Andrew County.

Updated 1:32 p.m. May 4:

Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill says the all-night filibuster in the Missouri Senate of a capital improvements bill containing federal stimulus funds was "political theatrics."

McCaskill, a Democrat, says she understands that the four Republican Senators are trying to send a message to Washington, and that message has been received loud and clear.

"The people that they're really filibustering against are the people of Missouri, because those projects that are funded are creating jobs," McCaskill said. "Our economy is recovering and most importantly it's funding public education in Missouri."

Updated:  7:00 a.m. May 4:

A group of four Republican senators have ended their all-night filibuster of a capital improvements bill that contains more than $465 million in federal stimulus funds.

They began blocking the bill Tuesday afternoon after their attempt to shrink the bill by $41 million was rebuffed by the Senate.

Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich says he’s issuing a subpoena to the Finance Division of the State Department of Insurance, in order to force them to release records on banks, savings and loans, and other financial institutions across the state.

Finance Division officials have so far refused to release documents on their reviews of financial institutions, saying that state law bars them from doing so.  But Schweich says the records are needed to see if banking regulators are doing their jobs properly.

A proposed constitutional amendment that would require Missouri voters to show photo identification at the polls has passed the Missouri House.

The resolution’s sponsor, State Representative Stanley Cox (R, Sedalia), argued that a photo ID is a better method of identification that a utility bill, which is allowed under current law.