JEFFERSON CITY — While most other states have finished work on new congressional boundaries, Missouri is one of just four without a map, as lawmakers here remain mired in personal feuds and disagreement over the lines.
The acrimony within the Missouri Senate became even more pronounced in recent days as the small group of GOP senators opposed to party leadership worked to block bipartisan bills such as a sexual assault survivors bill of rights.
Lawmakers, some frustrated by the intraparty squabbling, headed out of the capital city Thursday for a weeklong spring break.
They come back to the Capitol next Monday, eight days before candidate filing for the Aug. 2 primary election ends. All 163 seats in the House and half in the 34-member Senate are up for grabs in November.
Senate Majority Leader Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, said Thursday the candidate filing deadline is “on the radar” and didn’t shoot down the possibility of moving against his fellow Republicans to force a vote on the blueprint.
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“Everything is on the table,” Rowden said. “We’ll find a path and I want the path to be as smooth as possible.”
While the Senate has traversed a rocky road with little to show for its efforts, the House has sent more than 35 pieces of legislation to the other chamber since the session began in early January.
To date only one measure, a supplemental budget bill, has received final approval in what has been a muddled, fractured Senate thus far.
GOP leaders spoke to Gov. Mike Parson last week about various options for congressional districts, Rowden told reporters as the Senate took its break. He said he wanted to get a map to the governor’s desk to avoid having the courts draw congressional boundaries.
Such a scenario could turn U.S. Rep. Ann Wagner’s suburban St. Louis 2nd Congressional District more competitive, putting the Republican seat in “jeopardy,” Rowden said.
Another thing he dislikes about not approving a congressional map: “It makes us look bad.”
A lawsuit calling on the courts to intervene in the stalled redistricting battle has already been filed, adding to the tension that has enveloped the debate.
Dysfunction
Dysfunction among Senate Republicans was on full display last week as the GOP faction blocked the sexual assault survivors bill of rights. The sponsor of the bill, Sen. Holly Thompson Rehder, R-Sikeston, held a press conference to excoriate the group of men.
“These guys need to halt their campaigning and work for the job that they are currently elected to do,” she said.
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