It’s been a rough start to the year in the Missouri Senate. The Republican leadership of the body, led by Senate President Pro Tem Caleb Rowden, has tangled since day one with a group of senators calling themselves the Freedom Caucus.

That group has said they have one goal: Making it harder to amend the Missouri constitution. They’ve held up the governor’s appointments and filibustered even the daily approval of the Senate journal. What they’ve demanded is priority treatment for legislation that would set a higher bar for ballot efforts — like the ones that are coming on enshrining abortion rights.

KCUR's Brian Ellison asked Rudi Keller of the Missouri Independent about the group and its chances of succeeding.

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Kansas City Today is hosted by Nomin Ujiyediin. It is produced by Byron Love and KCUR Studios and edited by Gabe Rosenberg and Lisa Rodriguez.

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