STALEMATE FRUSTRATES LAWMAKERS

Southeast Missouri lawmakers left the state Capitol Friday night frustrated over a legislative stalemate that prevented them from finalizing the budget."I have not seen brinkmanship like this in my five sessions up here," said state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau."I think it is regrettable that we couldn't strike an agreement and go home," he said. "Everybody is just dead on their feet."Lawmakers failed to reach agreement by the 6 p.m. constitutional deadline. The Legislature adjourned about an hour and a half later, with lawmakers set to take up the budget again on Monday.

At issue is funding for Planned Parenthood.

The House's anti-abortion majority stood firm for budget language that would bar the family planning agency from receiving any of the $6.5 million included in the Senate's budget bill.

But senators said the House approach was unconstitutional under federal court rulings.

Some House members also questioned the move."The House chamber has just flipped," said state Rep. Joe Heckemeyer, D-Sikeston. "They just don't seem to have any reverence for constitutionality."Kinder said Missouri law already prohibits state funding for abortions.

Kinder opposes abortions. But he criticized the House for not going along with the Planned Parenthood funding."This is sort of dancing on a head of a pin about language," said Kinder."It becomes an endlessly frustrating exercise, and I think we need to rise above the dispute and deal with the budget for the state of Missouri," he said.

State Reps. David Schwab, R-Jackson, and Mary Kasten, R-Cape Girardeau, voted with the majority of House members in opposing funding for Planned Parenthood.

Both lawmakers oppose abortions."We just felt like it was important to draw the line," said Schwab.

He said his constituents dont want state tax dollars going to help fund abortions.

Schwab said some Planned Parenthood clinics in Missouri perform abortions.

Funding supporters insist the tax dollars fund other Planned Parenthood programs and not abortions.

But Schwab said supporters are "playing with numbers" when they talk of keeping the funding separate. "They are definitely juggling money."Schwab said lawmakers passed a similar ban last year, but a court overturned it.

This session the House changed the wording. "We felt like this language would be constitutional," Schwab said.

The Legislature never ran into this problem before Mel Carnahan was elected governor and pushed for funding for Planned Parenthood, he said.

While the issue will come up again when both chambers reconvene Monday, Schwab and Kasten don't expect the House to change its tune."I don't think the House is going to budge, and usually the House does budge," Kasten said."It is a little distressing that we have done all the budget work and still didn't make the deadline," she said.