Cancer center funding to be restored
Published May 1, 2007
After MU was stripped of nearly all proposed capital-funding projects to aid the passage of the omnibus higher-education bill in the Senate last week, Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, announced Monday that funding for the $31 million Ellis Fischel Cancer Center, one of the removed projects, would be restored in next year's budget.
"It's a very old building," Robb said. "Obviously it needs an upgrade and hopefully we can get a state-of-the-arts hospital and research facility at the same time."
MU has experienced a steady decrease in proposed funding since January 2006 when Gov. Matt Blunt announced his plan to sell assets of the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority and grant $350 million in capital funding and scholarships.
During Senate floor debate on April 18, Sen. Chuck Graham, D-Columbia, said Blunt was using the building projects as a "carrot to get the stick."
"I don't think these bright, shiny buildings that everybody's distracted by are ever going to come to fruition," Graham said.
Despite warnings from Republican senators, Graham used a filibuster to try to stop a vote on the bill.
In response, Republicans used a call to previous question, a rare political maneuver in which debate is bypassed and the bill goes directly to a vote. The two major opponents of the bill, Graham and Sen. Jolie Justus, D-Kansas City, saw funding to the colleges in their districts erased from the bill.
"The Senate, in taking away the funding, was punishing more than just Sen. Graham," Robb said. "They were punishing anyone in Missouri in association with cancer."
Robb said he was happy the funding for Ellis Fischel would be restored, but he was disappointed in Graham's behavior on the Senate floor.
"They told him he could talk about the bill and his dislike of the bill but said he could not filibuster," Robb said. "He knew what was going to happen. I'm trying to figure out what game he was playing."
Graham could not be reached for comment.
Robb, who supports stem-cell research, said it was pointless to fret over the debate on research because the provision prohibiting that research is probably unconstitutional.
"Why even worry about it?" Robb said. "First thing is to take the money, and we'll worry about the fine points later."
After the funding cuts to MU, Robb met with Blunt and legislative leaders to discuss the possibility of passing alternative legislation that included the projects.
Robb's first choice was to include the funding in a House capital improvements bill.
"After further discussion, it's very likely that bill will not get passed this year," Robb said. "So the only other option is to add it to the supplemental budget."
The governor submits the supplemental budget in January each year, and Blunt promised Robb in a letter that he would include the projects in his budget in January 2008.
The funds would still result from the sale of MOHELA assets.
House Minority Leader Jeff Harris, D-Columbia, said it is unacceptable because of the refusal to include the funds in the bill this year and suspected Blunt was merely trying to get the bill passed.
"It's awfully easy to promise something for next year," he said. "Why isn't he doing it now?"
Robb said Blunt has been cooperative in dealing with legislators and in trying to pass the bill.
"If you look at the history of this, the governor has been very supportive of projects in Columbia," Robb said. "He has worked very hard. You really need to want to make things happen, regardless of any biases you have."