Roughly 23,000 Missourians still don’t know whether they will see an unemployment check after April 3.

The state Senate adjourned for spring break without voting on a plan to accept $81 million in federal money to extend benefits from 79 weeks to 99 weeks.

Sen. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, said he will continue to fillibuster the bill if it is brought back up because it is wrong, he believes, for the federal government to send borrowed money to the states.

He said he’s been getting more calls from people in other states than in Missouri.

“They’re afraid that their state legislatures, you know, might get the same idea and it would affect them. My office responding to them is saying, well what the senator is doing in Missouri doesn’t affect you in Pennsylvania,” Lembke said.

Republican Senate leader Rob Mayer said he would have liked to see a vote on the plan before the break.

“A few senators shouldn’t hold up the progress of what’s going on here and so if we have to use stronger measures we’ll use stronger measures,” Mayer said.

– Missouri Digital News