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Capitol Report

By

Brad Lager

   

Fighting off Big Government Intrusions

 

Throughout my career in public service, I have always believed that crafting the annual budget is the most important responsibility of your elected officials.  We have an obligation to make the difficult decisions necessary to make sure government lives within its means and does not spend more than it collects.  When done correctly, taxpayers are able to keep more of their own money, make their own decisions on how to spend that money, and have greater liberties in their consumption, savings, and debt retirement.  Unfortunately, our freedoms, liberties and pocketbooks are under attack by big government politicians in Washington DC .

 

The federal healthcare bill moving through Congress calls for a massive expansion of entitlement programs which would increase the number of Missourian’s on government paid healthcare by over 50%.  Even with the federal government picking up a large portion of the added expense, Missouri ’s state government would be forced to come up with an additional quarter of a billion dollars or more.  Although these social welfare expansions are being designed with good intentions, their impact on our federal, state and personal budgets cannot be ignored.  Annual spending on social welfare programs already consumes more than one third of our total state budget and every dollar taken by these programs is one less dollar to fund our primary responsibilities.  If the federal government forces the states to increase state paid welfare, vital state programs such as education, transportation, and public safety will suffer.

 

As our state continues to face budget uncertainty, we must fight against any proposal, state or federal, which will force additional costs or taxes on Missouri ’s hard working families.  With responsible budgeting and fiscal restraint, we have the opportunity to emerge from our current fiscal crisis stronger than ever.  However, increased federal mandates forced upon the states will only stall these efforts.  This reckless spending and excessive intrusion is not the type of government our founding fathers envisioned and we must do everything possible to defeat these proposal.  It is time for Washington DC to stop spending money it does not have and instead adopt a fiscally responsible approach that ensures our government will be solvent and viable for future generations.

 

As always, please feel free to call, email, or write with your ideas or concerns.  The Capitol number is (573) 751-1415, my email is brad.lager@senate.mo.gov and my mailing address is Room 429, State Capitol Building , Jefferson City , MO 65101 .  

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