Governor Matt Blunt stands by his proposal to eliminate First Steps, though he insists children covered by the program won’t be left without services. Blunt’s proposal has brought an outcry by parents with children in the program, and has been resisted by the Legislature. Blunt says that over the past three years, the program’s cost has grown 12-percent per year. First Steps provides services for developmentally disabled children. Blunt says the state can’t afford it and must work to reduce the cost of providing such services.
