For a third consecutive day, Republicans thwarted attempts by the Democratic-controlled Massachusetts Legislature to approve a spending bill that includes money for temporary shelter spaces for migrant homeless families.
Saturday’s House session had hardly gotten underway before the Republican caucus used a procedural process to once again delay a vote on the $3.1 billion spending package. A fraction of that money — hundreds of millions of dollars — would support shelters that are being strained by a crush of migrant and homeless families.
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Legislators already wrapped up their formal session without approval of the supplemental budget, and won't return for another formal session until next month.
Legislation can be adopted in informal sessions but rules for those sessions allow a single lawmaker to derail the process. Action on the budget was delayed on Thursday and Friday. They've scheduled another informal session on Monday.
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Republicans who have blocked the budget say the legislation needs to include provisions to stem the flow of migrant families into Massachusetts. They've proposed considering the shelter funding in a separate spending bill, which would allow lawmakers to move forward on the rest of the budget.
House and Senate Democrats announced Thursday that they had reached a deal on a supplemental budget, but they could not get the overdue legislation across the finish line in the face of frustrated Republicans. Democrats were unable to finish work on the supplemental budget before formal sessions ended on Nov. 15, meaning they had to come up with a bill that received unanimous support in informal sessions.
