The Missouri House is trying one last time to avoid cutting services to 8,000 elderly and disabled residents.

With less than four hours left in the Legislature’s spring session, the House voted 127-24 in support of a new plan designed to secure funding for vulnerable seniors.

The measure must be taken up in the Senate by 6 p.m. or the cuts will go into effect later this year.

The maneuver is the latest in a game of legislative chicken between the upper and lower chambers that has been underway for weeks. Although the state’s $27.8 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 is intact, the cuts to seniors have been a point of contention.

On Thursday, a bipartisan group of Senate leaders issued an ultimatum to the House to come up with a better plan after it refused to take up an earlier proposal.

The standoff raised hackles among House members.

“Their plan doesn’t work,” House Speaker Todd Richardson said of the Senate version.

But, he urged quick action rather than finger pointing.