The top Democrat in the House accuses the Budget Committee Chairman of “hijacking Democracy” by delaying work on the budget. Traditionally, the House has dealtwith the budget by Spring break and sent it to the Senate. This year, the House has returned from the break with the budget still in committee. The leader of House Democrats, Rick Johnson of High Ridge, not only accuses Budget Committee Chairman Carl Bearden of “hijacking Democracy”, but also of playing Governor. Bearden acknowledges he made many changes to the governor’s budget. He doesn’t apologize for it. Bearden insists Governor Bob Holden has submitted a budget based on imaginary numbers, because it relies on proposed revenue increases to balance, increases that are highly unlikely to make it through the Republican-controlled Legislature. The Legislature has until May 7th to complete the state budget.
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