By Marshall Griffin, KWMU
Jefferson City, MO – The Missouri House this afternoon is debating the bills that make up the state budget.
House members from both parties have been attempting to add on amendments.
State Representative Jeanette Mott Oxford (D, St. Louis) sponsored one that would shuffle dollars around from different sources in order to bolster the Parents as Teachers Program.
"We have spent less than what we've appropriated in the past, so there seems to be some wiggle room there, where if we take this money, we won't actually be hurting something, in that we haven't been spending it all," Oxford said.
But the amendment failed.
House leaders are hoping to give the state budget first-round approval this evening, and vote it out to the Missouri Senate by Thursday.