The Missouri
Constitution requires three things of the General Assembly: allow the governor to
address the Assembly on the state of the State; allow a Justice of the Missouri
Supreme Court to address the Assembly on the state of the Judiciary; and for
the Assembly itself to submit and pass a budget. Today, the House has done its
part in meeting that final constitutional requirement.
In January, the
governor submitted a budget to the General Assembly that was impossible to
maintain, and out of balance with the priorities of hard-working Missourians.
There are several
points about the budget that I want to share with you. By now, you have
probably heard the most contentious item of the budget—the proposed expansion
of Medicaid. This year, I have heard from many of our neighbors that have
strong points on expanding Medicaid. Both sides have a compelling argument. There is undoubtedly a burden for those at the
lower end of the income ladder, but my chief responsibility as your
representative is to be a responsible steward and fiduciary of your taxpayer
dollars. If Missouri were to accept federal funding for Medicaid expansion, it
would still be your taxpayer dollars at work—an unacceptable proposition when
the federal government is over $16 trillion in debt and has an annual deficit
of over $1 trillion dollars. On top of that, the guaranteed 100% funding of
Medicaid expansion that supporters claim would only be in effect for a few
years. Within a few years, that funding drastically diminishes—and would be at
best only 85-90% of what would be needed to maintain the expansion. At that
point, the state government would either need to raise taxes on Missourians, or
cut education funding dramatically to cover the shortfall. Expanding Medicaid
as an unfunded mandate is an irresponsible decision of the legislature, and
while I sympathize with the arguments for expansion, I could not in good
conscience vote
for a measure that
would have the potential to bankrupt our schools or increase your tax burden.
Among several priorities on my agenda is the
privacy of Missourians. If you have not heard, the Missouri Department of
Revenue has been scanning and storing private documents of Missourians and
using them for a number of purposes. There is great concern that this
information has been shared with the Department of Homeland Security and other
federal agencies, in violation of Missouri law. For this reason, House
Republicans stripped the Department of Revenue of $85 million in funding for
the retention program, and have instead given them a $1 appropriation. While
this is a good measure by my fellow Republicans, $1 is still too much to give
to any program that takes your information and hands it over without your
permission, in blatant violation of our laws, to be stored in a federal
database.
In addition, we have
focused on programs that will help our communities and our children. We have
found the funds necessary to accomplish a lot for Missourians, including:
- $1 million in increased funding for
regional autism projects;
- $1.4 million in federal funds for
library grants to expand education programs;
- $200 million increase in total
funding for mental health programs;
- $150 million increase in total
funding for elementary and secondary education;
- $65 million increase for the
Foundation Formula;
- $2.4 million increase for Bright
Flight scholarships;
- $1 million increase for Access
Missouri Financial Assistance Program;
- Restoration of sequestration cuts to
Missouri National Guard tuition assistance programs;
- $200,000 for the Missouri Charter
School Commission;
- Reversing the governor's $1.5
million cut to the Cyber Crimes Task Force;
- $13.8 million for Developmentally
Disabled provider rate restructuring in the Department of Mental Health;
and
- A $1/hour increase for home and
community-based service providers.
Most importantly, we
have kept our budget balanced—allowing us to maintain our AAA credit rating and
continue our tradition of ensuring that our children and grandchildren will not
have to pay for our actions today. At the federal level, this is a far-fetched
notion. Here in Missouri, this is business as usual.
While we await the
Senate’s recommendations and changes, I have no doubt that my colleagues and I
in the House will continue to fight for your priorities and principles, so that
we can continue to make Missouri the best place in America to live, to work,
and to prosper.
