JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – After calling the spending plan “disingenuous” last month, Gov. Mike Parson slashed a billion dollars out of the budget lawmakers sent him.
Unlike previous years, this year’s budget process was anything but normal, which is why the governor said at some point lawmakers will have to fix it. Parson announced late Friday that he was cutting more than 170 items from the spending plan and by doing that, he is protecting the taxpayer’s dime and eliminating unnecessary pet projects.
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“There’s just a lot of overspending,” Parson said. “I think there were over 600 earmarks in the budget.”
Back in May, lawmakers approved a nearly $52 billion budget to fund the state, but many, including Parson, said the spending plan was problematic.
“I don’t think the budget was exactly the reality of the number it should have been,” Parson said. “I think you’ll see one of the largest supplementals at the beginning of next year that you’ve seen.”