JEFFERSON CITY � State lawmakers overturned 47 of Gov. Jay Nixon�s spending vetoes on Wednesday, displaying bipartisan cooperation to restore money cut from utility assistance, public defenders and forensic exams for abused children.

The House approved 55 spending overrides in a little less than seven hours of floor debate. Each item needed 109 votes to pass, but most gained 120 to 130 votes as dozens of Democrats in the minority deserted the governor of their party. In all, the House approved $44.2 million in general revenue spending, and $63 million from all funds, initially vetoed by Nixon.

The final total was lower because the Senate became embroiled in debate on a bill creating a 72-hour abortion waiting period. When that was over, with the atmosphere poisoned between Democrats and Republicans and the clock past midnight, the Senate did no more work.

As the debate concluded, Majority Leader John Diehl, R-Town and Country, told members that next year, when he will be speaker, the House would put a microscope on wasteful spending. He noted that in the fiscal year that ended June 30, state agencies spent $24 million on advertising.

�How many autistic children does that serve?� Diehl asked. �How many children in underperforming school districts does that provide reading services for?�

Diehl also said he intends to push the budget work along so lawmakers will be able to consider spending vetoes before they go home in mid-May.

Nixon vetoed about $144 million in general revenue spending from more than 130 sections of the budget. Expensive tax cuts and less-than-expected revenue forced the cuts, Nixon said when he took the action. As the veto session approached and Nixon�s external pressure from local governments took effect, lawmakers turned from trying to override the tax bills to restoring the spending items.

Nixon restricted an additional $641 million in general revenue spending, including $100 million for public schools and $43 million slated for distribution to state colleges and universities. He said in a news conference last week that he would release that money if lawmakers refrained from overriding his tax vetoes.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Kurt Schaefer, R-Columbia, said Nixon�s vetoes were targeted at the most visible groups and many included amounts so small that they seemed to have been done to anger lawmakers.

�We can�t figure out why on earth he would do these things,� Schaefer said in an interview. �Yet, at the same time, he spends $166,000 in the first month of the fiscal year alone on out-of-state travel and meals. He needs to stop doing that.�

The overrides approved in the House that did not survive in the Senate included $5.1 million to keep open the Missouri Rehabilitation Center, operated by the University of Missouri at Mount Vernon, and $1.4 million for the university�s telemedicine program.

On the override votes, the Boone County House delegation of Reps. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, Caleb Jones, R-Columbia, Caleb Rowden, R-Columbia, and John Wright, D-Rocheport, all voted in favor of an override 32 times. On another 11 votes, one or more were absent, and those present voted for the override.

Kelly voted against 11 overrides, and Webber opposed two. No other Boone County lawmaker voted against a spending override.

Before the debate began, Rep. Jeff Roorda, D-Barnhart, said he agreed with the argument in an opinion issued by Attorney General Chris Koster that lawmakers did not have the authority to override spending vetoes. In the opinion, Koster suggested that the past practice of considering each line individually was legal. �We are exceeding our authority; we are trampling on the constitution,� Roorda said.

Kelly said the principle of checks and balances on executive power means the House did have authority. �It is fundamental to democracy to allow the representatives in the people�s house to override the governor�s veto,� Kelly said.

This story was first published Wednesday, September 10, 2014 at 12:27 p.m.