As Governor, I have made compassionate and fiscally responsible budgeting a priority in state Medicaid and other programs for the needy. The generosity and compassion of our people make me proud to be a Missourian.
Missouri’s budget provides a sound safety net for those in genuine need of assistance. We will spend more to help the poor and needy this year than last year and more than in any prior year. The previous administration had an apathetic and toothless attitude toward waste, fraud, and abuse. I have changed this to a focused effort to root out misuse of social welfare dollars. Our fight against waste, fraud, and abuse has two purposes. One is to protect those in genuine need. The other is to make the state a responsible steward of people’s hard-earned tax dollars.
When I became Governor, your Republican legislative leadership and my Administration had inherited a budget crisis. Spending plans were one billion dollars out of balance with revenue. Working with the General Assembly, I signed legislation to rescue Medicaid from insolvency, assure its future ability to help people in need, better direct resources to those least able to help themselves, and begin attacking waste, fraud, and abuse that had become rife. Simultaneously, we increased aid for education substantially and reversed the budget’s slide toward disaster, without one dollar in job-killing new taxes.
This year, my budget included an additional $275 million to sustain current levels of help for the needy through Medicaid. The tax-and-spend mentality of the other party has not changed. The minority opposes any cuts in welfare benefits but will not show any plan to pay for its big spending, either with more taxes or cuts elsewhere. The old welfare program, which the minority wishes to restore, would add $935 million to state spending immediately.
Welfare provided through Medicaid consumes 29 percent of the state budget and covers one person in six, or 16 percent of residents. In my first year, we immediately went to work identifying and stopping waste and fraud in social welfare, reversing the old attitude that was lackadaisical, at best.
So far, the Department of Social Services has saved $138 million in taxpayer dollars through hard work and simple, common sense changes. For example, the agency now checks eligibility fully before adding a person to the welfare rolls and annually reviews eligibility to identify changes in circumstances.
The Missouri General Assembly and I are working on a new plan to move against unprincipled health care providers who defraud taxpayers by misusing and abusing the system. The Senate has passed legislation by Senator Chris Koster to impose tougher penalties on those convicted of fraudulent billing and other actions. The proposed law would make Missouri one of 17 states adopting Federal False Claims legislation, making us eligible for federal resources to fight the fraud that rips off millions of dollars each year.
The Koster bill would impose a lifetime ban on welfare reimbursement to those convicted of defrauding the Medicaid system. We need tough penalties for those who would defraud the people. The legislation also would protect “whistleblowers” who help expose and bring to justice these criminals.
If enacted, the Administration will use these tools to expand our already strong anti-fraud efforts. I hope the House will follow the Senate’s lead. We owe our very best efforts to hardworking taxpayers who want their dollars directed to people who truly cannot help themselves.
[ Back to Top ]
Governor Blunt is taking action to improve the education of young people in math and science. His purpose is to assure that today’s students are fully competitive in an increasingly global economy.
Blunt believes that quality education in math and science is vital for the next generation to succeed and prosper, but the United States is not doing well compared with other nations. National studies now show that 4th grade students in the U.S. are competitive on a global basis, but students at the 12th grade level rank poorly when compared with students in other nations. It is estimated that in less than five years, more than 90% of the world’s scientists and engineers will be in Asia.
These troubling statistics are a central concern for the Math and Science Summit that Blunt will convene later this month to bring educators, businesses, and private organizations together to brainstorm ways to increase academic achievement in math and science. Blunt called this summit to pursue the overriding goal of doing the best possible job preparing Missouri’s students to compete and succeed in the economy of the future. To help prepare for the summit, Blunt has visited Missouri classrooms to observe successful methods for consideration by the Math and Science Summit.
“Missouri needs an aggressive, results-oriented strategy,” Governor Blunt said. “We owe it to our children to do our very best to prepare them for the challenges of the economy. We must prioritize areas of study to enhance future opportunities. Math and science learning that sparks students' interest and achievement will help Missouri and its students achieve their full potential."
One of the Governor’s stops was at the Columbia Area Career Center, where he visited an Advanced Animal Science Class of high school juniors and seniors involved in hands-on research. The project centered on food-borne pathogens and offered real-life applications in trigonometry, calculus, biology, and chemistry.
Gov. Blunt’s top budget and policy priority is achieving a world-class education for young Missourians. To date, Blunt has increased state support for public schools by $325 million – achieved with no new job-killing taxes for Missouri families. He also led the way to establish the new and fairer school funding formula that is based on students’ needs.
Blunt's budget also calls for an additional $17.1 million for colleges and universities, and his Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative will generate $450 million to enhance learning opportunities for college students and ensure that Missouri remains a leader in science and technology education and research.
From kindergarten through graduate school, Blunt is achieving major new investments in education. He is accomplishing this without new taxes because the Administration is successfully battling waste, fraud, and abuse. The Governor is setting priorities and controlling spending growth in other areas in order to send public resources first to education.
[ Back to Top ]
Governor Blunt Promotes Show-Me State As a New Leader in Plant, Health Sciences
Governor Blunt is hard at work to promote Missouri’s dynamic and promising environment for plant and health sciences. As part of his push to make Missouri a powerhouse for research, Blunt met recently with company representatives from around the world at the BIO 2006 Conference in Chicago. Blunt’s efforts at this convention brought discussions with academic research institutions and companies that heard about the many opportunities that Missouri offers businesses in this rapidly expanding field of biotechnology.
"Missouri is poised for expansion in the fast-emerging biotech sector. It is vital that our state seize promising opportunities available to us," Blunt said. "For Missouri to keep its competitive position in the global economy, we need to remain committed to strengthening Missouri’s leadership in health and plant sciences and biotechnology."
Gov. Blunt and Republican leaders in the Missouri General Assembly have been focused on policies to expand Missouri’s growing biotechnology activity. In 2005, Blunt established a blue ribbon advisory council for plant biotechnology, which is looking for ways to maximize the potential of Missouri agriculture’s role in new uses of food crops and other plants.
In Chicago, Blunt highlighted his Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative, which would support research and education in health and plant sciences with major capital improvements for Missouri’s public universities and colleges. The Governor’s initiative would generate $450 million for projects such as plant science research centers, health science research and education centers, and business incubators.
“Missouri's economic outlook is made even brighter with new developments and accomplishments in plant sciences and biotechnology,” Blunt said. “It is a top priority of the Administration to expand our state’s national and global leadership role in this area. The case we made in Chicago will be pressed aggressively to secure Missouri's position as an economic leader many years into the future.”
[ Back to Top ]
‘Strong as rope leader - doesn’t back down’
Economic Development Journal Honors Blunt for Making a Difference for Working Families
Governor Matt Blunt again has been recognized for his success in creating a substantially better and more jobs-friendly economic environment in Missouri. Southern Business and Development, a widely read journal on economic development, honored the Governor by naming him among “10 People Who Made A Difference.”
Southern Business and Development said of the Governor:
“…Blunt is a strong-as-new-rope leader and doesn’t back down from anything or anybody… We particularly loved his response to Ford’s announcement that it is closing its St. Louis assembly plant. ‘We are working with Ford to reverse this decision.’ No governor in any state where GM or Ford announced plant closures recently said anything to the effect that they are working to ‘reverse the decision.’ Being stubborn with certain things and never giving up is a quality we’d like to see more of in politics.”
Since taking office, Gov. Blunt has delivered major strides in welcoming job creators to the state. His efforts have been rewarded by a burst of continuing job growth and have been recognized outside Missouri as well as at home.
Blunt inherited a $1.1 billion budget deficit from the previous administration and led sweeping reform in the irresponsible spending policies of the past. Thanks to the Governor’s efforts to increase government efficiency, channel available resources to public education, and direct state agencies toward better stewardship of hard-earned taxpayer dollars, the previously crisis-ridden state budget is in balance, with a small but real surplus after just one year.
By meeting and mastering the inherited budget crisis, Blunt has kept his promise to increase spending for classrooms. He also secured workers’ compensation and litigation reform along with the Quality Jobs Act to retain and recruit good, family-supporting jobs for Missouri. Since January 2005, the new economic climate in our state has enabled employers and entrepreneurs to create more than 37,000 new jobs.
“I am proud of what has been accomplished in a short period for Missouri’s working families,” Blunt said. “We will continue to press vigorously to improve Missouri’s excellent quality of life and create more opportunities for all Missourians.”
[ Back to Top ]
Talking Points: Get the facts, not the liberal spin!
Governor Blunt and the Republican Legislature made historic accomplishments in Blunt’s first year in office by exercising leadership and following conservative principles. They are continuing to move Missouri forward, away from a failed tax-and-spend record compiled by the other party's leadership.
But too much of the news media in Missouri is under liberal control. This means that all too often the facts slip through the cracks and never reach the people. Please, help us get the truth to your family, friends, and neighbors!
Responsible Government:
- Governor Blunt and the new Republican Legislature balanced the state budget with no new taxes while providing more for students across Missouri. Blunt took an inherited five percent budget deficit of $1 billion, got control of spending, stabilized the crisis, and created a balanced budget with a small but real surplus - the first balanced budget in five years.
- The liberals running the other party are full of unfounded criticisms of the balanced budget. Yet even at this late date, they refuse to offer their own budget plan! Why? Because they are hiding their central goal: higher taxes to pay for fiscally irresponsible spending increases for government programs.
- Governor Blunt endorsed the recommendations of his eminent domain task force to make changes in Missouri eminent domain laws that will protect the rights and freedom of property owners. Blunt formed the task force in response to the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that state and local government can let private interests seize homes and other private property for "economic development" under eminent domain.
- Blunt's budget targets millions of dollars in waste, fraud, and billing errors in welfare after years of lax oversight. Blunt-led changes by the Department of Social Services already have saved $138 million in taxpayer dollars. Now, public charity is being protected for those in genuine need.
- Blunt established the Government Review Commission to find and recommend ways to increase efficiency and effectiveness in Missouri state government. After reviewing the panel's suggestions, the Governor already has directed several agencies to implement some of the recommendations.
Protecting Families:
- To protect children from sexual predators, Blunt signed legislation to require offenders to wear lifetime electronic monitoring devices. Missouri is one of only five states in the U.S. with this strong, pro-child policy. Additionally, he is proposing that Missouri enact a version of Jessica's Law to further protect the safety of our kids.
- Governor Blunt believes the government must respect the religious and moral convictions of all people, certainly including health care providers. In January, a St. Louis area Target store dismissed a pharmacist, the mother of three and an experienced employee, who could not in good conscience dispense products that she personally found morally objectionable as abortion-related. This case reinforces Blunt's support for "conscience protection" for pharmacists, just as physicians and hospitals cannot be forced to perform abortions against their will.
- Governor Blunt is standing up for some of the state's most vulnerable Missourians - senior citizens - by recommending a $600,000 increase in funding for Meals on Wheels and $400,000 for the Missouri Rx program. These vital programs allow seniors to maintain their independence and remain in their homes and communities.
- In 2005, meth incidents were down 44% as meth makers faced a severe crackdown. New legislation makes it much tougher for illicit drug makers to secure over-the-counter cold medicines that contain key ingredients for meth.
- Governor Blunt summoned a special legislative session in September to protect unborn children from abortion. He won passage of a law to prohibit transporting minors to other states for abortions without parental consent and to require abortion "clinics" to have local hospital access.
- Blunt's new legislation combats the dangers of drunken driving and underage drinking, with stronger penalties for those who violate this law.
- Obesity carries a high price, in terms of both poor health and financial burden. Governor Blunt launched Healthy Missourians, an initiative that responds to the state's obesity epidemic and encourages healthier lifestyles among Missourians of all ages.
Excellent Education:
- Last year, classrooms received $158 million in new funding under the Governor's new budget. This year, they will get even more, $167 million added, for a total of $325 million additional resources for schools - without any job-killing tax increases for hard-working families and ending the liberal practices of raising taxes and cutting schools to support big welfare spending.
- Blunt's budget calls for an added $17.1 million for Missouri's colleges and universities, the first funding increase for higher education in five years! Despite last year's tight budget, the Governor was able to hold funding at its current spending level in 2005.
- Blunt’s innovative, new Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative promises $450 million for higher education to be used for such things as student scholarships and capital improvements on campuses across the state. These significant improvements would help make Missouri a leader in research and education in the fields of science and technology, attracting employers to the state and improving both education and Missouri's job climate.
- The Blunt-signed school funding law, fully funded by the Governor's budget, will distribute resources more fairly with the focus on the needs of students and classrooms. The old way was to reward higher local taxes with more state aid! Missouri school districts have begun dropping out of a lawsuit against taxpayers as they begin to see the effects of the new formula.
- Missouri needs a higher standard of efficiency in delivering taxpayer dollars to our classrooms. The Legislature will begin considering ways to raise this standard and call on districts to deliver at least 65% of the budget to classrooms, where learning occurs. Missouri teachers receive among the lowest compensation in the nation. It is time for real change, especially with some districts spending almost one-half their resources outside the classroom. By putting more into classrooms, we will be doing more to retain our many able teachers and recruit the best new teachers.
Missouri's Quality Workforce:
- The Quality Jobs Act provides new incentives for employers to create family-supporting jobs with good pay levels and quality health coverage for employees.
- More than 37,500 new jobs have been created over the past year. Unemployment is down in 2006 to its lowest levels since 2001, at 4.8% in February, adjusted seasonally.
- Attracted by incentives under Governor Blunt's Quality Jobs Act, Chrysler has decided to invest up to $1 billion in its two manufacturing plants in eastern Missouri, protecting the jobs of 5,500 Missourians.
- Blunt is working hard to recruit new employers to Missouri from around the country and around the world by focusing his message on our state's talented and committed work force.
- New laws are combating frivolous and abusive medical malpractice lawsuits, which were driving family physicians and other caregivers out of practice in Missouri, especially in smaller communities and rural areas.
- The Governor has challenged state workers to provide better services for Missourians while using less of taxpayers' resources to increase efficiency. He is rewarding the successful efforts of state employees with an across-the-board 4% salary increase, the first real raise state workers have seen in years.
- The new workers' compensation bills protect and strengthen this vital program to help workers injured on the job while fighting abuse of the system.
In addition to sharing the facts with people you know, we encourage you to write letters to your local newspaper and call talk radio shows. Don't let the liberals and their partners in the media keep the facts out of sight!
[ Back to Top ]