Dribble, pivot and rebound like a House Republican (A How-To Budget Guide)
 A Page Out of Speaker Richard's Playbook. |
To budget like a Republican, you've got to know how to play like a Republican. And that means pivots, rebounds, misdirections and flagrant fouls -- and doing it without shame.
Keeping track of the always-changing fiscal philosophies of House Republicans has been a challenge this year, even for the most seasoned of Capitol observers. For your handy reference, we've been compiling a timeline of leaders' many budget plays -- it's a sight to behold. Where appropriate, we've included details from key Senate leaders and the Lieutenant Governor.
No matter how you come down on how the state should be crafting budgets, or what should be done to kick-start the economy, chances are, you agreed with House leaders at some point in the past couple of months.
| Step 1: Stand tall against everything you're about to do |
January 28 | Peter Kinder says, "A budget based on a one time bailout is no long-term plan." | |
| January 30 | No federal money for ongoing expenses. House Budget Chair Allen Icet insists that using one-time federal funds to pay for ongoing expenses would backfire in later years. | ||
| February 3 | Icet vows not to use any one-time money for ongoing expenses. "Really, it's a massive expansion of state spending," Icet tells the Missourinet. | ||
| Step 1a: Feign a rejection | February 7 | Richard suggests Missouri reject any federal bailout money and "just send it on back" to Washington. "We could do that," Richard says. | |
| The same day he suggests "sending it back," Richard promises a $400 tax rebate with the same stimulus money. "We're going to take half of it and send it back as a tax refund," Richard said. Bob Dixon: "It's not really a good idea to use one-time money that we're borrowing anyway." | |||
| Back to Step 1: Make sure everyone knows where you stand... |
February 11 | Nixon's budget called a "Mad Max" gambit; Richard calls it "a ticking time bomb; Icet calls it "irresponsible." Story from Steve Kraske, Jason Noble and David Keppler calls Nixon "a riverboat gambler betting the mortgage on a ridiculously risky play." | |
| February 13 | Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder says federal stimulus money should not be used for ongoing expenses. | ||
| February 20 | Richard: "We have given countless hours of thought as to how to distribute the resources responsibly and it is clear that we need to designate the funds for one-time projects." | ||
| March 6 | Using federal money for ongoing expenses is still bad, say House Republicans. | ||
| March 11 | Icet claims that he's "eliminate[d] the appetite to spend one-time money on operating purposes." Up until the moment he's exposed by the media, Icet claims that his budgets do not use federal money for ongoing expenses. | ||
| March 12 | Icet admits that his budget bills include $329 in federal money on ongoing expenses, completely contradicting his previous statements and promises. An amazing turn of events. | ||
| March 13 | "Technically, yeah, I used it," says Icet. To the tune of $619 million. Technically. |
What's next? Check out the full timeline here.
