Blind program cuts still cause for debate

A State Senate panel spent several hours Wednesday putting together their version of Missouri’s state budget for next year.  But the fate of a program for blind residents is still up in the air.

When the pension program came up Wednesday night, Appropriations chairman Kurt Schaefer chose to defer final action until next week at the earliest. 

But he did reverse the House’s decision to provide some money for the blind by taking it away from the newspaper industry.

Schaefer says he’s looking into Governor Jay Nixon’s proposal to divert nearly 18 million in new-found federal Medicaid funds to the blind. 

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to wrap up their budget work later Thursday.