State of the State: State is Strong, Change is Working

Three years ago Missouri faced a $1.1 billion deficit, 34,000 jobs had been lost, spending was out of control and education funding had been cut and withheld, but this week in his State of the State address Gov. Matt Blunt reported that the changes he and the General Assembly have enacted are working and as a result the state of the state is strong. Governor Blunt outlined a bold agenda for continued change for Missouri education, health care, tax relief, addressing the threat of illegal immigration and much more in his annual State of the State address.

Change Is Working

“We inherited a state budget that was broken and ruined by profligate spending,” Governor Blunt said. “Many claimed it would be impossible to save the wrecked budget without increasing taxes. We proved them wrong. We eliminated tremendous amounts of waste and attacked fraud. We increased funding for education at all levels. And we fixed that inherited budget crisis without raising job-killing taxes. In fact, we cut taxes. We took our state from a budget crisis to three consecutive budget surpluses. We will not go back to the old way. We will continue on our changed course.”

$1.2 Billion for Missouri Education

Governor Blunt has kept his promise that education would be his highest priority. If the General Assembly approves his budget this year, the governor will have provided an additional $1.2 billion for education over a four-year period. Governor Blunt’s budget recommendations this year include significant increases in funding at all levels – from pre-school to graduate school. Elementary and secondary schools would receive an increase of $121 million or more than 4 percent from last year. Missouri colleges and universities would receive an additional $54.2 million, an increase of more than 6 percent, including funding to train more doctors, nurses, dentists and pharmacists to meet the health care needs of Missourians. The governor also recommended $100 million for needs-based scholarships, a four-fold increase to expand opportunities for thousands of Missourians. Overall, the governor’s total investment in education over four years is $1.2 billion including $662.6 million for early learning, elementary and secondary education, $193.4 million for higher education and needs-based scholarships and $335.3 million for the governor’s Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative to provide world class learning centers for Missouri college students.“By having the vision to look ahead and the fortitude to keep our commitments to the people of Missouri, we will have increased our total investment in education by $1.2 billion,” the governor said.

Health Care Initiatives

Last year, Governor Blunt enacted Mo HealthNet, the state’s new health care safety net for vulnerable Missourians. Mo HealthNet empowers participants through personalized care in a health care home and, for the first time in Missouri history, guarantees access to primary and preventative care. This year, the governor is proposing a plan to reduce the number of Missouri’s uninsured by nearly one-third. Governor Blunt outlined his innovative Insure Missouri health care plan which would reduce the number of uninsured Missourians by nearly 200,000 by helping low-income working Missourians purchase their own personal health insurance. Insure Missouri will use some of the resources already in the health care system to pay for uncompensated care that is provided today on the back end to the uninsured. The governor’s plan invests some of this money to help eligible Missourians purchase health insurance on the front end so they will have the coverage they need when they need it. “Insure Missouri relies on the proven Missouri values of work, personal responsibility and free enterprise,” Governor Blunt said. Once fully implemented, Insure Missouri will offer access to care for nearly 200,000 Missourians. This new direction has us on the path to affordable coverage for all.”

Tax Relief for Missourians

Governor Blunt also outlined the fourth major tax cut since he took office as he proposed the elimination of all state taxes on veterans’ military retirement. “Last year, we cut taxes for all Missourians who purchase health insurance,” the governor said. “We cut taxes to protect family-supporting manufacturing jobs. And we passed legislation to end state income taxes on Social Security benefits. This year, I propose a fourth major tax cut. I urge the General Assembly to honor our veterans and eliminate all state income taxes on military benefits.” The governor also called for action to help stop excessive local property tax increases and again recommended a constitutional amendment to prevent unelected judges from raising taxes.

Fighting Illegal Immigration

Governor Blunt repeated his concern that Washington has failed to secure our borders and enforce immigration law. The governor urged the General Assembly to place his tough illegal immigration directives into law, create new penalties for aiding an illegal in obtaining a driver license, forbid local governments from hampering law enforcement efforts to enforce immigration law, ban “sanctuary cities,” stop the use of illegal labor and the exploitation of illegal immigrants, pass legislation making it a crime to transport illegals for exploitive purposes, requires agencies to verify the legal status of applicants before providing welfare benefits, enact stronger employment verification, punish those who knowingly hire illegals and protect from undue penalty those whose failures occur in good faith. The governor also called English the language of opportunity and renewed his endorsement of English as the official language. “Missouri is already taking some of the strongest steps in the United States to curb illegal immigration, but we can and should be doing more,” Governor Blunt said. “Missourians should know that I will do everything I can to combat illegal immigration – to protect their safety, to defend their hard-earned tax dollars, to protect their jobs and to enforce the rule of law.” Governor Blunt also urged the General Assembly to ban lobbyists gifts for the entire executive branch as he has in the governor’s office, make the Missouri Accountability Portal permanent to guarantee future transparency for Missouri taxpayers, increase autism funding, protect the inherent dignity of each and every life with new informed consent legislation, provide new funding for veterans, fully fund the ethanol and biodiesel incentives, create a B5 standard for biodiesel sold in our state, provide funding for new audits to help save energy, lower costs and improve Missouri’s environment, create a week-long Show Me Green tax holiday to eliminate sales taxes on Energy-Star certified efficient appliances, provide funding for cyber crime task forces, pass legislation to add sex offender’s email accounts to the sex offender registry, make the rape of a Missouri child punishable by death, strengthen Missouri’s tough anti-meth law with a new system to help law enforcement track abuses and funding to help Missouri sheriffs fight meth. “Missourians demanded change: to put Missouri families, Missouri values, and Missouri taxpayers first. We embarked on a course to bring jobs back to our state. We have succeeded. Change is working. Since January of 2005, Missourians have created nearly 90,000 jobs,” the governor said. “Tonight, I am pleased to report: our economy is growing, our schools are improving, our health care system has been transformed for the better, and, most importantly, because we have the strength of Missourians as our foundation: The State of our State is strong.”

You can find video of the State of the State address here, or text of the address here.

State of the State Facts Versus Jay Nixon’s Fiction

Jay Nixon’s response to the State of the State address by Governor Matt Blunt was filled with fictitious and misleading statements designed to fool Missourians. Below are Nixon’s wild assertions followed by the facts:

Nixon’s Fiction: The governor “failed to fund the priorities that would move Missouri forward.”

The Facts: Clearly Jay Nixon is out of touch with Missouri priorities. For example, Governor Blunt has made education the state’s highest priority. The governor has increased our total investment in education by $1.2 billion.

Nixon’s Fiction: Missouri “ranked dead last in funding for our colleges and universities.”

The Facts: Missouri is not ranked last in funding for our colleges and universities. In fact, according to Grapevine data, Missouri is recovering from the previous administration’s education cuts and withholdings. Thanks to Governor Blunt’s substantial higher education funding increases, Missouri has moved past seven states for increased investments in colleges and universities over the last two years. The change is working and Governor Blunt continues to invest even more in Missouri higher education. With recommendations he has made this year Governor Blunt will have increased funding for higher education by nearly $117 million or a significant 13 plus percent since he took office. In addition his Lewis and Clark Discovery Initiative has sent an unprecedented $335 million to support higher education and provide high quality learning facilities at dozens of schools and colleges across the state. The governor’s strong support for higher education has led to a 17 percent increase in enrollment in public institutions since he took office. Jay Nixon wants to go back to the old system where the previous administration withheld funding from higher education.

Nixon’s Fiction: Missouri has “invested a smaller percentage of the state budget in schools than we did when this governor took office.”

The Facts: The governor for the first time in the state’s history has recommended more than $3 billion to elementary and secondary education, and Governor Blunt for the first time in the state’s history has recommended more than $1 billion in general revenue to higher education. The governor’s 2009 budget recommendations will bring total increases for education under his leadership to $1.2 billion.

Nixon’s Fiction: MOHELA is “the one agency that’s solely responsible in helping Missouri kids afford college.”

The Facts: MOHELA is not the sole agency responsible in helping Missouri kids afford college. The Department of Higher Education, for example, is the agency that distributes the Access Missouri scholarships the governor has expanded which have helped more than 36,000 Missouri students afford college.

Nixon’s Fiction: “...the Governor and the Republican legislature slashed $350 million from the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.”

The Facts: The governor reinvested a state asset to provide $335 million for Missouri students, colleges and universities across the state. MOHELA continues to be a strong a viable option to help provide an affordable education for Missouri students and they even increased loan forgiveness programs for Missouri students over the past year.

Nixon’s Fiction: “...we must once again make it a priority to invest in public schools.”

The Facts: The governor’s leadership and funding priorities are putting more money into public schools than ever before. He reformed the way our state funds public education to send $120 million new dollars to the K-12 funding formula. His 2009 budget recommendations will bring total increases for education under his leadership to $1.2 billion.

Nixon’s Fiction: Missouri is “moving in the wrong direction on college affordability. It is more expensive to go to a public four year college in Missouri than any other Big 12 state.”

The Facts: Governor Blunt signed landmark higher education legislation that introduced tough tuition controls and paved the way for increased funding for needs-based scholarship funding. The governor’s budget recommendations for 2009 would quadruple funding for needs-based funding through the Access Missouri program.

Nixon’s Fiction: The governor’s “objective is to take money from regular Missourians who need health care and put it in the pockets of HMO's and Insurance Companies.”

The Facts: The governor’s objective is to use funding that is currently in the system and use a portion of it to help low-income working Missourians purchase their own personal health insurance. His plan supports the values Missourians believe in - work, personal responsibility and free enterprise. The governor has made it clear that the best solutions are not government mandates or bigger government programs. He believes in solutions that put Missouri families in greater control of their own lives. Insure Missouri will make health insurance more affordable for working Missourians and will expand coverage to nearly 200,000 uninsured Missourians.

Nixon’s Fiction: Missouri is not “keeping pace with neighboring states on job creation and economic development.”

The Facts: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Missouri is not only keeping pace with neighboring states, Missouri has created more jobs than 5 of the 9 surrounding states under Governor Blunt’s leadership. The governor has helped Missourians create nearly 90,000 new jobs since taking office. Jay Nixon wants to go back to the old system where the previous administration lost nearly 34,000 jobs.

Nixon’s Fiction: “...unemployment in Missouri is now among the nation’s highest.” 

The Facts: The average unemployment over the past three years is a full half a percent less than the average unemployment of the last three years of the previous administration.

Nixon’s Fiction: “Missouri has turned down more than $1 billion of federal health care money.”

The Facts: What Jay Nixon fails to say is that his plan includes a more than $769 million tax increase. Calling for this type of a tax increase would also reinstate the more than $230 million in waste and abuse the governor eliminated from the old, broken health system that Nixon wants to go back to.

Nixon’s Fiction: “the state has an extra $600 million in the budget.”

The Facts: According to Budget and Planning, growth in the state’s budget has funded important education priorities, such as the funding foundation, scholarships, investments to improve health care access for Missourians and much more. “Extra” funding remains only if Nixon is proposing to increase taxes on hardworking Missouri families or eliminate these important budget priorities.

Missourians Show Their Financial Support for Governor

Missourians continue to show steadfast support for Governor Blunt's leadership and better direction for Missouri by contributing resources of more than $1,000,000 in the final quarter of 2007. Missourians for Matt Blunt this week filed its end-of-quarter financial report, which showed that the governor's supporters contributed $1,003, 531.63 to help Missouri continue moving in the right direction. Missourians for Matt Blunt ended the fourth quarter of 2007 with $4,009,541.03 cash on hand. Missourians are sending the message loud and clear that Governor Blunt is the right person to lead our state. Missourians do not want to return to the old way of broke and broken budgets, job losses and out of control spending and they continue to voice this support by contributing their resources and time to keep Missouri moving in the right direction. Missouri families are feeling the benefits of Governor Blunt's common sense leadership through job creation, more than half a billion new dollars for classrooms, tax relief, health care reform that improves health and wellness, and decisive action to combat illegal immigration. Missourians for Matt Blunt had raised a record total of $9,879,453.80 before being forced to return contributions to supporters after the Missouri Supreme Court overturned a campaign finance reform law that was increasing transparency in government and bringing greater accountability to Missourians. In order to fully comply with the law, Missourians for Matt Blunt is returning $4,576,149.74. Despite this challenge, Missourians for Matt Blunt raised an impressive amount and finished the fourth quarter with strong fundraising numbers. Because Jay Nixon failed to do his constitutional duty and defend the laws of the people he was sworn to represent, the transparency of the ethics reform law is gone, and Nixon is benefiting politically from his own failure because his campaign lacked the broad support from Missourians that Governor Blunt has earned with his impressive record of accomplishment for Missouri jobs, education, health care and fighting illegal immigration.

Find out how our Republican leaders are serving Missouri by visiting their websites