Senate Votes to Restore Budget Cuts; Barbour Promises Veto

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Gov. Haley Barbour claims he will veto a bill the Senate passed today that would restore funding to offset cuts to state agencies.

by Adam Lynch
February 18, 2010

Gov. Haley Barbour claims he will veto a bill the Mississippi Senate passed today that would restore funding to offset cuts he made to state agencies. "This bill spends too much, burns too much of our reserves, and fails to adequately address Corrections, where we still face the possibility of turning criminals loose due to the lack of funding. I expect the bill to reach my desknext week, and I will veto it and send it back to the Legislature," Barbour said in a statement.

Today, the Senate voted 26-22 to concur with an amendment the House approved last week, rolling back cuts to some aspects of the state's budget that Gov. Haley Barbour advocates cutting.

"A lot of Republicans, as well as conservative Democrats, are feeling the pressure back home to restore some of these cuts," said Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, who was not present at the vote. "They're hearing that the state is suffering irreparable harm, especially in terms of education, if they don't do something to restore the money. You can only cut so much before doing serious damage."

The amendment to Senate Bill 2688 takes almost $70 million from the state's historic 1999 tobacco settlement and other funds and redistributes it to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program--a formula that steers state money to low-revenue school districts. The amendment also steers extra money to the State Tax Commission and the Department of Mental Health, which is reeling from budget cuts this year.

"We're disappointed that anyone would oppose this agreement," said Nancy Loome, director of education-lobbying group The Parents' Campaign. "It's a wonderful compromise between the House and Senate position on budget problems. It's halfway between the two in terms of the total amount of money restored. It's hard to imagine why anyone would vote against it."

Both the House and Senate will have to mount a veto-override to pursue the compromise, but the Barbour-friendly Senate may have a difficult time gathering enough votes for the endeavor.

"We hope that some of the senators who voted against concurrence will help us override that veto," Loome said. "We're hearing from scores of people who are terribly frustrated with their senators. They feel they're not being heard and that their representatives are out of touch with their communities. It's important they have legislators who understand the importance of strong public schools."

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