Federal funds included by Nixon hit a snag in Congress
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Federal funds included by Nixon hit a snag in Congress

Date: February 22, 2010
By: Benjamin Wieder
State Capitol Bureau

JEFFERSON CITY - Roughly $300 million of the state's revenue next year is in jeopardy.

A U.S. Senate bill passed Monday did not include federal money Gov. Jay Nixon had been counting on in his budget.

Nixon's recommendation, released in January, includes funds that are to come from a federal jobs bill, but State Budget Director Linda Luebbering said the Senate bill that passed Monday did not include these funds, though a jobs bill passed in December by the House of Representatives did. Both houses will have to approve identical versions of the bill before it can go to the president for approval.

Senators Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Kit Bond, R-Mo., both voted in favor the bill.

Rep. Chris Kelly, D-Columbia, who sits on the House Budget Committee, said the committee's job will be more difficult if the funds do not materialize.

"That means that the governor has sent us a bill that, through no fault of his own, is $300 million high," Kelly said. "We've got to dig our way out of that hole, I don't see any other option."

House Budget Chairman Allen Icet, R-St. Louis County, said Monday's U.S. Senate vote doesn't necessarily mean the stabilization funds won't materialize.

"There are opportunities to amend the bill," Icet said. "My honest opinion is I don't think there's a lot of appetite in D.C. to do things to help the states."

Icet instructed the House's six appropriations committees to cut 5 percent when they reviewed Nixon's budget recommendations last week, which would have reduced Nixon's recommended amounts by more than $300 million. But Icet said Monday that committee recommendations did not hit this mark.

The Budget Committee will hear from the appropriations committees in the next few weeks. He said it was too early to say what effect the Senate's vote would have on the House Budget Committee.

"That's one of those dynamics we'll have to consider," Icet said. "It's a process. Stay tuned."