House members split along party lines for the 41-22 vote. The spending bill needed a two-thirds majority of 47 “yes” votes to pass. Five Republicans and two Democrats were missing.

House Republican leader Bob Faehn of Watertown gave his notice to have the measure reconsidered Monday.

“If we allow the bill not to pass, the lab will shut down and fill with water,” said Rep. Chuck Turbiville, R-Deadwood. “Millions of dollars that have already been invested will be lost, along with jobs and the opportunity to conduct invaluable research. I can’t imagine what is going through the minds of the democrats that they would make such an ill advised vote.”

Neil Fulton, the governor’s chief of staff, said “We’re very hopeful that the no votes will reconsider and support this. It’s necessary funding that will have a statewide impact.”

Fulton said that he was not present for the floor debate and did not know what the argument was against it, but after looking at the voting record he said it appeared to be a political issue.

“The votes went directly down party lines and from what I’ve always heard the mine has never been a political issue so I’m not sure what happened,” he said.

The legislation came out of the House Appropriations Committee Thursday by a 7-2 margin with six Republicans and one of the committee’s three Democrats supporting it.

But Rep. Susan Wismer, D-Britton, changed her position Friday and voted against it.

The other two Democrats from the committee, Rep. Quinten Burg of Wessington Springs and Rep. Paul Dennert of Columbia, raised questions during the vigorous debate Friday about why the laboratory project should be a priority, while other programs are getting no increases and funding levels for most of state government remains uncertain.

“It is disturbing to me that the democrats would take a position against one of the best projects to hit the state in the last 100 years,” Turbiville said.

An earlier incident Friday afternoon didn’t help Republicans in trying to pick up enough Democratic votes to get the two-thirds majority necessary.

House Democratic leader Bernie Hunhoff of Yankton tried to use a procedural maneuver to force a spending-cut measure out of a House committee where it had been killed. But no Republicans voted to assist him and he fell short of the one-third necessary to proceed with the smoke-out.

That bill, HB 1199, would have banned reimbursement to legislators for out-of-state travel in most instances during the 2011 and 2012 budget years. The prime sponsor of the legislation, Rep. Shantel Krebs, R-Renner, was one of the seven legislators excused Friday.

The Homestake funding legislation, HB 1083, would appropriate $5.4 million of state funds to the South Dakota Science and Technology Authority for use in continuing the conversion of the old gold mine at Lead into a national laboratory site.

It would redirect $1.5 million from the state aeronautics fund, $1 million from the state tax relief fund which receives voluntary payments of sales taxes from Internet businesses, $2 million from the state petroleum release compensation fund,  $400,000 from a private activity bond fees fund and $500,000 from the telecommunications services for the deaf fund.

The proposal came from Gov. Mike Rounds, who has described it as temporary funding that will serve as a bridge until federal funding is received.

“We’re only asking for enough money for a short period of time,” Turbiville said. “This is a small amount of money going into a worldwide project.”

“We need to do what we can to get money to the lab,” he added. “We have voted to have the bill reconsidered. In the mean time we will do what we can to turn a few votes. I am optimistic. We will not give up. We will find the money and awe will make it work in spite of the obstructions.”

Democrats made clear right away in the debate they weren’t buying into it under the circumstances. “They can find the money (elsewhere). They can look for other resources,” Rep. Susy Blake, D-Sioux Falls, said.

Rep. Fred Romkema, R-Spearfish, defended the project, saying its potential reminds him of the space program from 40 years ago. He said Homestake is the best site but other locations will see the opportunity for resurgence if the funding dries up even temporarily. “We must do this project,” Romkema said. “I think that it is absolutely vital to the state and our district that this bill passes.”

“This $5 million investment may generate up to $250 million in experiments over time. It’s a tremendous asset to our district. It’s our future,” he told the Pioneer earlier this year.

Faehn tried to keep the legislation on track. “We can’t question every decision that’s made. We could, but why?” he said. “This will probably be a bigger gold mine for South Dakota in the future than the ones in the past.”

Hunhoff was politely blunt, saying the Legislature was headed once again down a path of being forced into accepting the priorities set by others.

“We’ve got some tough decisions to make. We have to set priorities,” he said.

Kevin O’Dea, head of the Lawrence County Democrats said he is “extremely disappointed” the bill was voted down as the lab funding is “extremely important to the area and state.”

He said personally that the move to block the funding is, “extremely short sided.”

Heather Murschel and Amy Wright contributed to this report.