How Missouri lawmakers feel after governor slashes $1 billion from state budget

Saturday, July 6, 2024 at 12:00 AM

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After the governor removed $1 billion from the spending plan lawmakers sent him, the Missouri General Assembly is giving the vetoes mixed reviews.

Gov. Mike Parson cut more than 170 items from the budget, saying he’s protecting the taxpayer’s dime and eliminating unnecessary pet projects. Some lawmakers say a special session needs to be called to fund the state through the rest of the year, but others say it can wait.

“I believe the budget we passed will sufficiently fund everything that we had outlined and the cuts taken into consideration as well,” House Speaker Dean Plocher, R-Des Peres, said. “I would rather have the state be prudent fiscally than spend money. The purview of budget cuts is well within the governor’s office.”

For weeks, the budget was at an impasse in the General Assembly.

“It’s concerning that we don’t have a budget; in my opinion, that doesn’t last a full year, and you can thank the House and Freedom Caucus members for that,” former Senate Minority Leader John Rizzo, D-Independence, said in May.

The full article is available ozarksfirst.com.

(Story by Emily Manley, ozarksfirst.com)

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