It was a long day for the House Budget Committee, which spent more than nine straight hours considering 90 – yes, 90 — amendments.

The marathon involved a lot of horse-trading, as members jockeyed to insert their favorite programs that were dropped or reduced by the sponsor, Budget Chairman Allen Icet, R-Wildwood.

It’s a tricky process because members have to find cuts to offset the spending increases they propose.

For example:

 Rep. Jim Lembke, R-Lemay, took money from treatment of sexual predators. He shifted $565,976 to independent living centers for the disabled and $300,000 to a special film project featuring World War II veterans.
 Lembke also pushed through an amendment to move the 52 employees who administer the Second Injury Fund from the attorney general’s office to the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. Democrats said the move was illegal.
 Rep. Margaret Donnelly, D-Richmond Heights, scraped up $1 million for the local fight against meth, to partially offset a $3 million gap caused by federal cutbacks.
 Donnelly also got $390,000 to reinstate occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech therapy for low-income people who receive home health care.
 Rep. Danie Moore, R-Fulton, found $14.7 million to boost the proposed rate increase for community mental health providers to 3 percent.
 Rep. Rob Schaaf, R-St. Joseph, added $5 million to the rate increase doctors already were slated to get for taking care of low-income patients. He said the change would boost Missouri’s rates to about 65 percent of Medicare rates.
 Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, tried but couldn’t stop the plan to use $13 million from an inmate revolving fund to buy laptops for probation and parole officers. She lost, 16-8.
 On a 12-12 tie vote, Rep. Ed Robb, R-Columbia, lost an attempt to add the $13.5 million “Preparing to Care” program at the University of Missouri. It would train health care professionals.
 But Robb got $250,000 for the Missouri Film Commission’s office. He also got $62,500 to fund charter school evaluations.
 Rep. Shalonn “Kiki” Curls, D-Kansas City, couldn’t get colleagues to trim $1.2 million from a MOHealthNet initiative known as case management services. Supporters say the case managers will make sure patients have a “health care home.” Curls wanted to use the money to beef up a child-care benefit for the working poor.

Icet hopes the full House can consider the budget bills when the Legislature returns from spring break on March 25. Then the spending plan will move to the Senate. The budget takes effect July 1.

By the way, one of Icet’s changes would give state employees a flat $1,056 pay raise, instead of the 3 percent raises proposed by Gov. Matt Blunt.